Boarding School Chronicles
by Carboned
Summary: All of our favorite characters in one boarding school... Yes it will have romance, drama, humor and a mystery waiting to be unveiled. Annabeth's sophomore year takes an interesting turn when a mystery is forming inside the school's ground and when a certain green eyed boy starts driving her mad. Immortal. Will have swear words inside.
1. Chapter 1

"Could you shut up?! I'm trying to do my fucking homework in my room and your goddamn music is blasting my ears off!" I screamed at the top of my lungs at the new guy in the boarding school with jet black hair and green eyes. He gave me a gaze of death and shut the door in my face. My face was still red from anger and yelling but I heard the guys in the room stopped the music. At least for now. I sighed and went up the staircase headed towards my room. It was a long day and I just wanted to go back to sleep. It was one in the morning on a school day and these stupid guys decided it would be a good idea to put their goddamn music as loud as possible.

I mean one of them just got here. He was around the school for about three days and already acted like he owned the school. Fucking brats.

I opened the door to my room and greeted my "cell mates".

Thalia and Calypso were laying in their beds while I went downstairs to yell at the boys.

When I came back they cheered and welcomed me with a round of applause.

"You finally took care of those guys ehh Annie?"

"Haha, we heard you from down there. It was quite epic." Calypso added.

"First. Don't call me Annie, you know better than that Thalia. And screw those guys. Why can't a girl have a decent sleep?" I moaned while I jumped into my bed.

"You'll be fine. We have two hours of english first thing in the morning. You'll have plenty of time to sleep while Paul will drill in our heads." Thalia said.

"Good point." I mumbled into my pillow and sank into a deep sleep that I longed for, this time not interrupted by a group of irresponsible, stupid guys.

"Wake up Annie!" Thalia yelled in my ear.

"Fuck Thals, could you give me a fucking break? It's seven in the morning." I replied not quite satisfied with my wake up.

I got up from the bed while Thalia was tearing from laughter after she woke me up.

"Waking up someone like this... you have no heart." Calypso said with a tooth brush sticking out of her mouth making me and Thalia decipher what she was saying.

I got in the shower and opened a stream of hot water on my body. I stood there for a few seconds letting the water wash off the feeling of pretty much wanting to die off of me. Two hours of english... that's gonna be rough on me. I only slept for six hours last night and with everything that has been going around this week it definitely wasn't enough.

The warm steam was so pleasant and distracted me from the boredom I will experience in about an hour. It was in the middle of the winter so a hot morning shower was pretty much what I needed to start the day. I thought about the new guy I saw last night. I hoped I wouldn't see him today. Had enough of him for the rest of my life after last night.

I closed the the water and got out of the shower when I heard Thalia got impatient.  
"Come on Annie, it's been more than twenty freaking minutes. We have school remember?"

"I'm out. Sorry about that." I said as I was drying my hair on my way out of the shower and into the room. I took off the towel that was covering my body and went over to the closet I shared with Thalia and Calypso. The room was warm enough from the radiator and steam from the shower so the cold from the outside wasn't noticeable. I picked a cute pair of undies and a bra and put them on.

I saw a black spot from the corner of my eye thinking I saw someone outside of the window but I quickly dismissed the thought since we were on the fourth floor of the building. If someone had climbed to the fourth story in this cold while it was raining like it was the end of days I think he deserved getting a glimpse of my undies. Kudos to that guy.

I finished dressing and got out to the hallway wondering if I should have put something warmer than jeans, a tight undershirt, a long sleeved gray shirt with an imprint of an owl on it and a sweatshirt on top. Not the brightest decision when you live somewhere close to the border with Canada. You know, right between the Sasquatch settlement and the Canadian white walkers.

"Let's go Annie, we don't want to be late to English class." Thalia rushed me as I was pondering upon my location in relation to the Great Wall.

The three of us went downstairs to our lockers to get our notebooks and books for English class.

We reached our destination just to see a group of boys standing around our lockers laughing and making a hell of a mess in the hallway, interrupting everyone that had the courage to try and sneak past them in their daily morning routine.

In reality all they did was just laughing and talking but of course I couldn't stand it, not when it was annoying me, and interrupting **my** morning.

Thalia and Calypso say I'm some kind of a control freak. No idea what they are talking about.

"would you like to move your ass from my locker Travis?" I said with a frown while avoiding eye contact from the boy from yesterday which he was clearly seeking it.

"You know Annie, you could just ask nicely..." he replied with a smirk. Probably thought he was being smooth and flirting with me. What I didn't notice he was sharing a naughty smile with his black haired, green eyed friend.

"Fair enough." I said with a fake friendly tone. "Would you kindly move your ass from my goddamn locker? Is it better now Travis?"

"Much, much better. And by the way, I'm Connor, Travis is over there trying to flirt with a couple of girls. Quite miserably I might add."

His friends sighed with him and then burst with laughter.

"I think we annoyed our fair lady enough for one morning, let us continue our journey to the English classroom!" the green eyed boy said and gave me a wink as he was leading the charger against the poor English teacher that was not at all prepared for such coordinated attack.

We met a few other people in the halls on our way to the class, performing the standard hug and the occasional kiss on the cheek.

Up until we met another group of guys. A different one I might add. They were too laughing and talking but not being so inconsiderate of other people.

The group included two tall, muscular guys, a short black haired one with an eye patch and the Couch. They were all having an extremely interesting discussion about the playoffs of the who gives a damn and the striking win of couldn't care less for basketball.

Obviously I never said that to the guys otherwise they would kill me on the spot but I never enjoyed basketball that much. It was cool and all but I was more of a volleyball kind of girl, probably the main reason I was in the school's team. Remember kids, liking the sport you play is quite necessary for enjoying it!

Anyhow, we reached the guys right when the Couch left mumbling about stupid kids that like all of the wrong teams for the wrong reasons. Nothing new there.

"Hey Jason." Thalia greeted her little brother with a hug and then a punch to the shoulder she barely reached with her head. He in replay smiled and returned her a hug, smiling to me and Calypso with charming white teeth. Ethan, the guy with the eye patch was still having debate with Luke, the other tall blond guy. When they two of them realized we were all just standing there and staring at them arguing they looked a bit embarrassed for a second but they both turned to us and started having a light chat with us girls.

"We heard you scream last night at those guys with the blasting music." Luke said with a smile addressing me. "Ummm... Yeah.." that was my best answer.

"Sorry about that, morning are always my worst time of the day." I said with an apologizing smile after Luke stared at me for a few seconds with no clue of how to react.

"Sure thing Annie." he replied with a smile and gave me a bear hug.

I felt myself blush between his arms.

Yup. This is going to be a rough day.

 **Just an extra treat for me because I felt bad about not updating in so long (my other story if anyone new is reading this).**

 **This might take a step back until I finish my first story (which should only take one more episode) but I just wanted you to have something that will keep you busy for 10 minutes and maybe put a smile on your face.**

 **I mean we all know how this is gonna go and how it will end but I thought it would be fun to write something cheesy and not that serious which is so much different from my first story.**

 **I truly thank you all for your time. It means the freaking world to me. The only thing I ask from you (beside enjoying everything I write ;)) is to leave a comment, if you have something nice to say I would love to hear it, if you think I should improve and improve something also let me know, it honestly makes my day.**

 **As always, I love you all,**

 **Niel.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yup... just realized I spelled "Coach" completely wrong the entire first episode, so in case you got confused and wondered, no it was not a piece furniture but rather an actual human being that makes young students run for an hour or so in highschool.**

 **I suck.**

Getting out of Luke's bear hug was the easy part, avoiding the glares from the green eyed boy was the difficult one. That guy got some nerves! He acts like he owns the school after his third day, gives me some weird wink as if he was flirty and then stares at me for the rest of the day like he was studying some animal. He should spend some time staring himself in the mirror, might learn something about monkeys in their wild habitat.

"Aaaaand that is it for today fellas, you're all dismissed!" as soon as Paul finished his sentence everyone got out of their chairs and quickly made their way toward the halls as if they were escaping death. I guess I was the only one that actually liked English class, I thought Paul was quite nice even if his lessons were boring to death.

"Annie, you coming?" Luke waved to me from the exit of the class waiting for me to finish the packing and join him on his way to the front lawn of the school, pretty much where we all hanged out between classes and on our breaks. Nothing better than some fresh mountain air after a double class with Paul. Once again, no offense Mr. Blofis.

"I'll be there in a second." I replied, closed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.

As I raised my head and started to head towards the exit without looking I bumped my forehead into someone's nose. At first it was just confusing, I didn't really understood what was going on, then it was kinda painful and then I realized who I just hit.

"Would to you be so kind to watch where you are going?" I said annoyed as ever from the green eyed boy. " I was watching, I just didn't expect you to just rush outside without even looking so technically it was your fault." he said in a nonchalant manner, as if he didn't pay much attention to the river of blood that was pouring down his nose. Quite honestly, it just annoyed me even more.

"Anyway, what were you even doing walking here, you sit on the other side of the class and the door is in the opposite direction." I asked aware of the fact that it was my fault that the boy in front of me was bleeding but not quite ready to admit it to him.

"Maybe I was heading towards you." he replied and this time he was trying to shove a piece of toilet paper up his nose to stop the bleeding.

"What do you have to do with me?" I answered, amused of the faces he was doing while trying to stop the bleeding.

"I was trying to talk to yo.. and could you stop laughing at me while I'm trying to stop the nose bleed you inflicted me just a second ago? Some might say it's quite rude." he said, gave me a weird smile, clearly satisfied of his comeback.

"Ahh... yeah, sorry about that. I guess it was my fault. Here take this." I gave him more toilet paper for him to use to block his nose entirely.

"Eh, thanks. I'm Percy, Percy Jackson." he said and sent his hand for a handshake while still trying to stop the bleeding with his face towards the ceiling in attempt to fight gravity. Unfortunately, Newton didn't approve.

"Annabeth." I said shortly. "And don't think this changes anything, if you blast your music in the middle of the night I'm still gonna go and yell at you until you stop with that stupid habit."

He gave me a smile filled with white perfect teeth and said, "I'm counting on it."

I sent him a small smile trying not to be too flirty with him but I figured it was a lost cause.

I joined my friends that were standing outside of the class waiting for me.

"You took your time there" said Calypso, trying to give me a naughty wink and failing miserably. She did however succeed to gain some weird looks from the passing students that thought she was having a seizure.

"Yeah... I kinda made him blood all over the fl..." I started when Thalia joined the conversation.

"You made him bleed? Jeez Annie, the guy might have a crush for you but that doesn't mean you need to go around and beat him to death." she said jokingly.

"Haha Thals, it was a mistake but he should be aware of the dangers of hitting on me. I hit back." I said with a chuckle.

"Ohh, do I need to worry from the competition?" said Luke while giving me a small nudge while we exited the big front doors to the road that led to the front lawn.

"Yeah, yeah, dream on Luke. Not you nor him will ever have the amazing privileges of being my boyfriend." I gave him a teasing smile and ran forward towards our spot on the grass.

Thalia, Luke Calypso and Malcolm who joined us as soon as he saw us outside set down on the grass set down with us and watched the empty road that led to the outside of our pretty little prison in the mountains.

Don't get me wrong the views from our boarding school were amazing but after the first few months it's in the back of your mind and you don't really notice it. You start to miss the civilization and the sound of cars in the morning.

I laid my head on Malcolm's chest and let out a sigh. The green eyed boy passed in my thoughts. Percy Jackson... there was something weird about him which made me a bit uncomfortable that I couldn't quite place. He did have beautiful piercing green eyes that made me a bit uneasy... And an awful taste in music. Probably just his taste in music. Definitely that.

"How do you feel about skipping math? I could really use an extra hour outside, I feel like I'm about to go insane in there." said Thalia.

Calypso and Luke nodded. Me and Malcolm looked at each other.

"Sorry guys, not today, I can't miss math right now." he sighed. "My goddamn teacher will probably surprise me with a sweet pop quiz about the class I missed. So no skipping for me this time. Or ever."

"What a bitch." said Thalia and turned her gaze from Malcolm to me. "Well, well... what do we have here?" she gave me an evil smile, knowing how much I hate to skip classes. And it wasn't even December, we just started the school year and Thalia already wants to skip classes.

I gave an apologizing smile and said, "You know me Thalia... you know how much I hate to skip classes. I hate to be that person but..."

"Well alright then." she interrupted me. "then just don't be that person. You can hang out with us for a good hour or so. Think of all the fun stuff we'll do... like... sit around... and talk... and shit. Just come Annie, I'm sure a big girl like you can handle it." she teased me. "Ohh I almost forget, we have a new business to take care of." she gave me a meaningful stare. it worked.

"Fine. But if the teacher asks, you kidnapped me." I said while pointing at her.

"Don't worry Annie, it'll be fun, we are going to meet your future boyfriend."

Luke raised an eyebrow but I knew what she was trying to do.

"I really can't take that back right? Math sounds so much nicer right now."

Calypso laid a comforting hand on my shoulder but I saw a small naughty smile was sneaking onto her face and Luke looked worried in the corner of my eye.

"Ohh hell no. You had your chance to be a good girl, you chose the dark side instead!" she said trying to come off dramatic but with no avail. Apparently a black t shirt of a dead barbie and a (sarcastic) pink backpack with a big cartoony rainbow on the back of it ruin the effect.

Calypso chuckled and looked like she was waiting for the second that we will move our asses, the bell already rang and we were on borrowed time. I could already imagine the teachers waiting for us in the entrance to the dorms with plenty of earfuls.

But that can wait for now, apparently I was gonna meet my future boyfriend and I couldn't stand the thought of missing another wonderful appointment with Jackson, cause the first few were so great.

"Can someone tell me where are we going?" I asked confused and started to get angry. It appeared that none of my friends had any intentions to tell me.

We all climbed over the school fence and started walking through big thick trees.

"I thought we were skipping school to chill not to go hiking in the forest." I said quite displeased with the situation, as if knowing I'm going to have to deal with the Jackson boy wasn't enough.

"Calm down Annie, we know where we are going, and trust me you'll be amazed when we get there." Luke answered me while looking back at me and gave me an encouraging smile.

"I thought you are a tough girl Chase. All I hear is whining." Thalia yelled from a few meters in front of me, making her way through the low bushes on the ground.

"Shut up Thalia, I didn't know we were going on a field trip. I was just surprised."

"Shut up for a second." Calypso shushed us and told us to get down on our knees.

"What happened?" Luke whispered.

"I thought I heard something. Are you sure there isn't a better way that doesn't go through the forest Thals?" Calypso asked, still whispering.

"Don't start as well, It's fine, I've done this more than once, It's completely safe. And short."

"Fine, let's keep moving."

As soon as Calypso finished the last word we heard a branch crack somewhere around us. It was really hard to tell but it definitely seemed as if something was walking along side us.

The trees were thick and the bushes were high and didn't allow any kind of view of the environment around us which made our pace even slower.

Another branch cracked and we heard steps near us. This time they were loud, clumsy steps.

"Well fuck, I have no clue where I'm at." said a familiar voice.

"Hey Grover! Over here, just walk towards my voice." yelled Calypso towards the bushes.

After a few more seconds and plenty more swearing a brown haired guy with a goatee appeared next to us, his jeans dirty from mud and his green t shirt had caught some leaves along the way which to be honest just camouflaged him better.

"Woah there big guy, how are you doing?" Luke said and laid a hand on his shoulder as if to confirm he was all well. Needless to say it was quite effective.

"I thought you'd be the first to get there" said Thalia. "Nature is your thing after all."

"Yeah, yeah I know. I just got a bit lost. I forget how I got there the first time so I was trying to retrace my steps when I got distracted by a beautiful eagle. Probably one of the last ones of it's kind..." he sighed as if he was mourning all of his family. Which he was.

"Anyhow, let's get a move on, the rest are probably already there" Calypso said, once again anxious to get there. After Thalia and Grover decided on which direction we should take I finally realized what that meant. "Wait. Is EVERYONE going to be there?"

"Well, not everyone, just the close circle. Malcolm for example and some others like Chris and Ethan and Jason couldn't join but at least a few more." Thalia replied while battling a rather persistent bush. "Your friend definitely made an impression on the guys."

"Still not my friend." I answered a bit annoyed while having my own fight with a branch from an old tree. "Probably never if I can do something about it."

"Well that's the thing with your heart... once he made his choice there's nothing you can do about it." Calypso gave me a teasing smile and continued walking through the trees.

I slowed down a bit and joined Grover in the back line.

"How are you doing Grover?" I asked him trying to start a conversation.

"Hmmm." was the only answer I got.

"It's still kinda sad isn't it? He is a king up there with no one to match him yet he is so close to extinction. Life's not really that fair uh?" Grover had a sad expression over his face.

"It isn't. But there's not much you can do about it. Not right now anyways. One day I'm sure you'll be out there saving all of those animals and forests Grover. I can already see it." I said trying to cheer him up, it seemed to be working because a small smile appeared on his face.

"Yo guys, we got there!" Luke yelled and disappeared between the trees.

I moved forward and got out of the tree line and discovered a rather small glade with a little stream running through it. It was quite beautiful and from the corner of my eye I saw Grover getting excited about being here for apparently the second time. Needless to say he missed the place.

"It's awesome." I said looking for Thalia but she was already ahead talking to some guys who were waiting for us.

I saw Will Solace, the Stoll brothers, Piper that was sitting next to Leo and... Jason apparently. It seemed like he did make it in the end. So all together we were about ten guys and girls who decide to skip class so we could all have a... weird meeting in the woods. Seems important enough to skip math right?

"Yo Jason!" I heard thalia that was walking towards Jason. "I thought you couldn't make it"

"At first I thought so too but our teacher was so clueless as to what was happening in class I just got out of the window mid class. I have zero clue how he didn't notice." he said and joined laughing with the others. "I do think he was kinda drunk."

"Well... we all know Mr. D." she replied with tears in her eyes.

"Guys, guys! Gather around." Will stood up and ordered the others to sit next to him on a few logs that was placed there. Grover was definitely displeased with the idea. He sat down.

"Well, first of all I appreciate you all coming down here today. I know some of you had to go through extra effort." he was looking at Jason.

"Nevertheless, you know why we are here. It is all about the new guy. Percy Jackson. After a brief meeting before hand we decided we should consider recruiting him to our.. hmm... thing?" we never labeled ourselves before. We got around and hanged out outside of school and after a while we decided it will be more fun to make it sort of formal and that's how our little group was formed.

"Anyhow..." Jason stood up. "Let's cut to the chase. All those who are in favor in Percy joining us?"

nine hands up, one down and a frowny blonde. Me.

"It is settled then! He is in." declared Will.

"Dismissed fellas, no beer today, come back in the night!" Jason winked at us all.

Displeased, myself and the rest of the guys made our way back to school.

The rest kept talking together and exchanging funny stories from school but my mind was someplace else. First of all, Percy wasn't there. I wasn't sure if she was just trying to mess with me or trying to see how I would react if I thought he would be there.

Nevertheless Thalia should know better than trying to give me a new boyfriend.

That Jackson is definitely not to my liking. Or anybody's.

 **And that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this one and I hope you had a good time.**

 **By the way I'm sorry if I got some of the names a bit messed up in the first episode, I'm kinda sloppy when it gets to the late hours of the night. Not an excuse, just sayin' ;)**

 **ugh, I won't say much more so... just know that I'm extremely busy and not doing the best.**

 **Good night fellas,**

 **Love you all,**

 **Niel.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, it's been a more than a month since the last time... I feel horrible about it but school is crazy, I was sick, on field trips and overall a bit down.**

 **I do want to thank** "Cinderblaze" **for the kind words! :)**

 **it's always nice to hear that people enjoy.**

The rest of the day was quite boring since we got back from the woods. It seems like nobody noticed us leaving the school and skipping a couple of classes which definitely worked for me.

I was still a bit confused about Thalia and Jackson. It didn't really suit her trying to set me up with a boy like that. She probably just enjoyed pissing me off from time to time.

Yeah. That sounded more like Thalia.

"Right in time for lunch. Isn't our timing just perfect?" Thalia said when she entered the school through a hole in the fence and saw students outside sitting, talking and eating.

"Let's just head to the cafeteria before we seat down."

"I agree with Calypso." I said and so it was settled, the three of us made our way to cafeteria.

The rest of the guys separated from us since everyone had a different way to get in and out of school so only the three of us were left together, we know the Stoll brothers had the main gate key that they probably acquired in a not quite legal way so they just walked in through the front gate as if they owned the place. Not very subtle.

As for the rest? Who knows.

We sat down on a lawn that was facing the mountains. The epic view definitely made eating a sandwich way more awesome.

Honestly, at that point I didn't care about any Jacksons or secret meetings in the woods, I just enjoyed the company of my friends.

I mean, we were only sophomores so we had a few years in this place before we can get out of here but I liked stopping and enjoying the little things like sitting in the sun on the grass with my friends and watching the beautiful view while eating a disgusting sandwich... Ugh.. I might actually miss this place once I'm gone.

"So...Annie..." started Thalia. I knew it could only go downhill from there.

"Yes?" I said, trying to be as patient as possible.

"The Jackson boy..."

"Yes?"

"Come on, don't act like you don't want his pretty face on your pillow tonight." she said trying to tease me and failing horribly at it I must say.

"You could do better than that Thals, if you're gonna tease me at least do it well."

"But come on, he's totally into you and Jason says he's a really good guy... for the most part..." the last part she said laughing.

"Thalia. I. Can't. Fucking. Stand. His. Cocky. Ass. So you better find a new way to tease me."

"Fine, fine. I just wanted a girl's talk." Thalia said.

"Don't worry Thalia, you'll get your desired action tonight in the woods." Calypso said smiling.

"Please don't start. I don't know if I even want to go, it's just gonna be awkward..." I said trying to avoid the meeting tonight knowing what will happen there with Jackson.

It became a tradition that every time someone new joins our group we sit around a camp fire and play Truth or Dare and tell a few spooky stories, whilst drinking beer of course, you gotta get alcohol in your system to get through that night.

After the entire school day the girls and I decided to head back to the dorms and get prepared to the party in the evening despite me and Thalia hating it Calypso had this silly idea in mind that we need to look good or something, but not before having another few interesting encounters.

We were heading towards our rooms when I saw Jackson heading towards us.

At first I felt something in my stomach that I could only explain as a result of eating something bad earlier the day and then pissed off when I saw his cocky smile on his face.

Before he could start his opening sentence, that I'm sure he prepared beforehand, I said, "Do you always look so satisfied like that?"

"Well, only when I see you." he said with a smug smile, his green eyes shimmering. Despite trying to hide it I felt something towards the smug guy in front of me which just pissed me off even more.

The way he looked at me... as if he saw beyond the act I was putting and knew how I actually felt. I had a feeling he knew the exact same thing.

"Annabeth, can I get a second with you?" he ask with an innocent look on his face.

"Uh, sure?" I said half answering, half asking.

He led me to one of the empty classrooms and closed the door behind him after letting me enter the classroom before he did.

"Gentleman." I said trying to break the ice since none of us were saying anything up until that point.

"Haha, of course, couldn't you tell I am a well mannered gentleman?" he said and mid sentence trying to switch to a British accent and failing miserably.

Laughing I tried to come up with a witty answer but my brain stopped working. I stared into his green eyes and his perfect smile that was slowly fading.

"Didn't they tell you it's not polite to stare?" he asked with another smile on his lips, teasing me.

"Oh shut up, I wasn't staring I was just thinking." it wasn't completely a lie but not the entire truth. I was definitely staring. A bit.

"Care to share?" he asked while taking a couple of steps closer to me.

"Nothing interesting, what did you want?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Uh, what do you mean what do I want?" he asked confused for a moment.

"You wanted to talk to me alone for a second. Well, what is it?" I asked trying to regain control over the conversation and push him into a corner, maybe something interesting will happen. You never know, so better poke the bear right?

"Oh, right." he looked embarrassed for a second but he shook it off and his constant smile was back.

"Well, since we hit it off so well I thought it wouldn't hurt sorting things out."

He took another step towards me.

"Umm, ok I guess. I don't mind a new start as long as you keep your volume down in the nights."

"Well, I can't promise anything but I'll do my best." he said with a naughty smile over his face and took another step towards me.

He was right in front of me, maybe 30 cm away.

I was leaned against the wall of the classroom and Percy was just in front of me.

He placed his arm against the wall near me and leaned a bit forward.

"You know, you're pretty cute." he whispered making it hard for me to hear him as if he wanted me to lean forward so I could hear him better.

He gave me a charming smile that melted me from the inside but I wasn't gonna show him that.

He thinks he can just come here, act like he owns the school and now get me with a couple of lousy jokes and a bad accent? I mean, I don't even know him and from what I've seen so far he seemed like a walking trouble.

I closed the gap between our heads but reached towards his ear which surprised him since he was clearly waiting for a kiss on the lips but he didn't flinch.

I breathed for a couple of seconds very closely to his ear, trying to make him shiver, with success I must say, and then, when I knew I had him in my net I whispered into his ear.

"You wish Jackson."

he flinched backwards and I seized the chance and headed towards the exit sending him a naughty smile knowing I gave him a taste of his own medicine.

"Fair enough, I can appreciate a good chase, Chase." he sent me a smile as he was just standing in the place where I left him while heading towards the exit.

I laughed from the bad word play and headed to my dorms without looking backwards.

Your move Jackson.

 **I hope you're not too mad at me for this episode being really short, I just really wanted to give something to you guys after more than a month of radio silence.**

 **I hope you enjoyed, please leave a review, have a good time and take it easy,**

 **Love you babies,**

 **Niel**


	4. Chapter 4

**Surprise surprise!**

 **I'm back with another one! And a much longer one as well!**

 **I won't say much so you could enjoy the episode but don't forget to tell me what you thought!**

Back in our room the three of us started to get ready for tonight.

I simply put on a different pair of blue jeans. Knowing how hot it will be at night I wore a white shirt that didn't fully cover my left shoulder and with a little bit of cleavage, don't judge me.

Thalia decided to say fuck it and just dress like her usual self, so she was mostly black. Great camouflage but not very fashionable.

Calypso had her own kind of look. She wore a simple dress that reached a little bit above her knees and wore cute sandals. She looked quite simple but definitely beautiful.

When all of us were ready, which means after around 10 hours of preparing, we made our way to the exit of the building.

We tried to make as little noise as possible, trying not to disturb anyone or raise any suspicions, after all we weren't suppose to sneak out of school in the evening to have a party in the woods.

A bunch of drunk teens around a camp fire... sounds like a recipe for a forest fire.

But it was cool, it wasn't like we got hammered out there, just one or two bottles of beer, we all could handle it without burning each other... for the most part.

"Shhhh! I think I hear someone coming." said Calypso as we were about to turn around a corner.

It was already completely dark and everyone were in their rooms probably sleeping in bed or getting ready to so we didn't expect much action in the hallways. Even the lights were out so we were basically sneaking around in complete darkness trying not to get caught. Needless to say we felt like ninjas.

"Get in here! Right now!" Thalia called us while whispering. She opened a service cupboard. It was rather small to fit three girls but it did the job.

We heard the steps getting louder and louder and heard a few voices talk through the cupboard's door.

"...Are they now?" the first voice said.

"I don't know, but we better stay vigilant, if whatever the student said was true then we can't let a bunch of students just sneak out of the school in the middle of the night." replied his friend.

The three of us looked at each other with concern. Either someone from our circle sold us out or someone from the outside found out about our meetings.

"Hmmm... well there's no one here, let's continue and circle around when we reach the chemistry lab and come back here." said the first voice.

"Fair enough."

We heard the two men walk about and when we were sure they turned around a corner we came out of the closet. At first we just looked at each other while being completely silent, the three of us were trying to speculate and figure out who could have ratted us out to the teachers.

"Are we playing it safe? Do you want to go back to the room?" I asked looking mostly at Thalia. But I already knew what she was gonna say.

"Fuck no. We are going out and we are gonna meet the guys and see what is going on."

Calypso sighed but not me nor her were gonna argue with Thalia, we were just as curious.

After our encounter with the two teachers we were extra careful and tried not to make any noise but it seemed like the halls were completely empty, we didn't see or hear any other teachers walking through the halls.

Once we got out we sprinted towards the fence. It may sound like an easy task but hell it wasn't.

We had to go through the entrance, the main road which led to the front gate which had the security guy than go through the lawns which were quite big, reach the fence and climb over it.

A piece of cake uh?

I took command and said, "On my mark...Three...Two...One...GO!"

The three of us sprinted towards the fence trying to not draw any attention from the security guy which was probably informed about the escaping students and from possible teachers that were staring outside from the windows in the building.

We got to the fence safely but that's where it went wrong. We heard voices far behind us and saw dark figures running on the main road with flesh lights in their hands.

At first I thought they didn't notice us so I assumed we were in the clear.

I was wrong.

Another look and I realized that they were heading straight towards us.  
"Climb NOW. The teachers are right behind us, we don't have time."

"What? How?" said Calypso and turned around to see if I was lying. She quickly turned around.

"It doesn't fucking matter now, just climb!" I rushed her.

They were past the main road and were crossing the lawns, getting closer and closer to us.

"Come on Thalia, get your ass over that fence and let's fucking dodge." I said starting to panic.

The were maybe ten seconds of running from us and hell, I wasn't gonna get caught.

Nine.

"Thalia come on!" I said keep looking backwards making sure we still had time to climb over the fence.

Eight.

"You know this fucking fence is hard to climb, not to mention my clothes keep fucking getting stuck in it."

Seven.

"I really don't give a fuck Thals but I'm not getting fucking caught so get your ass over the fence."

"Hey! Stop right there!"

Six.

I heard the teachers behind us and started to climb the fence when Thalia passed.

I didn't have much time.

Five.

"You will be punished! Stop now!"

Four.

I was almost at the top of the fence but Thalia was right, the fence is actually well built, it was hard to climb over it and my shirt got stuck in it.

Three.

I tried to release the shirt from the metal fence but it wasn't working. I just couldn't get it.

"Come on Annie, stop messing around and get down here."

"They are right behind you."

The girls definitely cheered my up.

I saw their flash lights on the ground from the corner of my eye.

Two.

I said fuck it and just continued to climb aggressively. I knew it would cost me my shirt but at that moment I just wasn't about to get caught because of a stupid combination of a stupid shirt and a stupid fence that decided to fuck me over. Hell no.

My shirt just ripped a little bit which surprisingly made her look better on me but on the other hand made my cleavage deeper and showed more skin on the left side.

If you would ask any guy maybe that what made it look better on me.

One.

I threw myself over the fence and landed in a pile of leaves and Calypso and Thalia. It was quite soft so I couldn't complain, the girls on the other hand...

So the teachers won't recognize us we just rolled down the hill so they wouldn't see our faces.

The problem was that the only way we could stop was if we got stuck in a tree and guess what?

We did.

"Ouch." Calypso mumbled.

"Not doing that again anytime soon." I said

"Come on pussies, that was fucking fun!" Thalia smiled at us, she was already on her feet brushing any leaves from her cloths and was ready to get to the party.

"You're weird." determined Calypso and started to walk towards our place with the two of us behind her.

"Don't you think it's weird that the teachers knew what was gonna go down and they were waiting for us?" said Calypso.

"Yeah... they said that someone ratted us. Wonder who that could be." I said wondering and running names through my mind.

"Maybe it was the Jackson boy." suggested Calypso.

"Nah, no way. Jason got to know him pretty well the last few days, he's not the type that will rat someone out." Thalia defended him.

"You're right, he's the type that will get ratted out." I replied.

"Whatever Annie, you're just mad cause you're in love with him." Thalia stuck out her tongue.  
"I...ugh just fuck off Thalia. I already told you what I think about that cocky boy."

Calypso laughed.

"What?" I asked a little bit pissed.

"So what were you two doing in that classroom earlier today?" she asked smiling.

"Ohh that..." I forgot I didn't even tell them what happened there.

"Yeah, that." Thalia joined.

"Nothing interesting, he wanted a fresh start with me then tried to kiss me, you know the usual." I kinda whispered the part about him kissing me, I knew they'd make a big deal out of it.

"He tried to kiss you?"

"Well what did you do?"

"Is he any good?"

"What does he smell like?" asked Calypso that really got into interrogating me.

"First of all, what the fuck Calypso? Secondly, nothing happened, I just laughed at him for a little bit then teased him then ran away. I can play hard to get when I want to." I answered the girls.

"So you admit you're playing hard to get for him? That means you do want him." Thalia tackled me.

"That's not what I meant!" I tried but it was too late.

"Don't even try to deny it Annie." Calypso laughed at me.

I knew Calypso could get girly like that but I was surprised because of Thalia, she really got into all of that cheesy boy stuff the last few days.

"We are almost there." Calypso said.

Alone with my thoughts I thought about what Jackson said earlier today, about how he wants a fresh start with me. I had a feeling that he wasn't about to change his behavior.

We reached our place. We heard music and people laughing, holding bottles of beer. It seemed like everyone was in a good mood.

There weren't that many people there, only a few more than what we had in our little meeting earlier today.

"How are you doing girls? And what happened to you Annie?" Malcolm approached us. He was pretty much the one person I liked calling me Annie. He was my brother after all.

"Not very goo..." started Calypso but Thalia cut her off and gave her a look.

"We're fine, is everyone here?" she asked.

"I think so, even Percy is here." he sneaked a look towards me. I pretended not to notice.

"Awesome, you go back to the party, we'll join in a moment." Thalia said.

"Sure thing, see you later girls." he walked away.

Thalia addressed Calypso after Malcolm stepped away.

"We'll talk about it later, no need to ruin the party."

Calypso nodded and so we made our way to the rest of the guys.

I saw a few guys sitting by the fire and tending it, some were standing together talking and drinking and some were complete idiots. Yes, you guessed it, it was Percy.

He was trying to what seemed like water-bend the beer into his mouth...

Needless to say he looked like he had severe mental illness since he was just flailing his arms at a bottle of beer and nothing happened.

He was clearly drunk.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Thalia laughed and addressed Jason that was standing near Jackson and laughed his ass off watching him.

"I think that's enough beer for you for now." said Jason as he was pulling the bottle of beer from Jackson's hands, he was trying to fight Jason but to no avail, he barely stood up.

"I thought he could handle a few bottles of beer." said Jason to us while laughing.

"That's not funny Jason, he could have been hurt." I said with a worried look on my face.

Percy, who just now noticed I was there turned to me and started to talk.

"Hey Annie! You..you safgdfas...hfbtsdf.."

"Uhm...what is he saying?" I asked confused because the boy didn't make any sense.

"I have no idea but let's just sit him down by the fire, you don't mind babysitting him for a little bit right?" Jason gave me puppy eyes, clearly he didn't want to get stuck with his drunk friend for an entire night. So why not just throw him at the first girl you see? Seems legit.

We sat down on a log in front of the camp fire. After a little while everybody did the same and we were all sited down on logs circling the fire.

Apparently Percy wasn't that drunk because he pretty much came back to himself after a while. To be honest I kinda enjoyed his drunk self, he was very quiet after he decided to give up on water-bending.

So Percy somehow magically recovered from his alcohol overdose or whatever and everything went back on track. I was determined to enjoy this evening since it might be my last one alive, after all when we come back the teachers will most likely kill us if they found out who we were.

"Guys and gals! It is tonight that we welcome a new friend!" Jason shouted while pointing at Percy that was very pleased with himself smiling his goddamn smug smile.

"So let's raise a toast for him!" he raised his his beer and looked at everyone.

"For Percy!" everyone shouted and sipped from their bottles, even I raised my bottle for him.

"And now for a short game of Truth and Dare!" Thalia stood beside her brother and gave me a naughty look. I had a bad feeling about this.

Some left early because they drank too much so only our original group stayed in our place.

It was me, Thalia, Percy, Calypso, Jason, Piper, Leo, Will, Grover and Nico. Malcolm, the more responsible of us two left because he knew how much of a bad time he will have in the morning with the hangover and the lack of sleep.

So the ten of us sat together in a circle near the fire that was slowly fading since Leo wasn't tending to it anymore and smiled at each other. We knew what was going down and that we were gonna abuse Percy a little bit, it was always part of the fun, the new recruit always had to do stupid stuff in the first night and we could always blame the alcohol for our stupid requests.

Thalia finished her bottle and placed it in the middle with a mischievous smile.

"does anyone mind me spinning first?" Thalia asked.

Nobody said anything and I just took another sip from my beer, god knew I was gonna need it.

She spun the bottle.

Calypso.

I mentally sighed with relief but I knew sooner or later the bottle is gonna point at me.

"Truth or dare?" Thalia asked.

"Uhmmm... Dare, why not." Calypso replied.

"Well... since you have such a nice skirt why don't you... flash us your... uhm cute ass?" Thalia half asked half ordered her.

"You're gonna be sorry for that Thals." Calypso gave her a death gaze but she did turn around, stopped for a second and then raised her skirt above her waist line for a second or two and sat down with a red face. It was clear that the guys enjoyed those few seconds from their cheeky grins.

"My turn to spin." Calypso said still red faced and spun the bottle.

Jason.

"Truth or Dare?" she asked him.

"Dare." he gave her one of his charming smiles which made Calypso blush and Piper a bit annoyed.

Calypso turned her look back to Thalia and smiled. "Haha, you're gonna be sorry now Thals." Calypso said with an evil grin.

Thalia, a bit confused didn't understand where she was going with that.

"Jason... I dare you to... Kiss Thalia, on the mouth for at least three seconds." she said with a victorious smile.

Everyone laughed at Thalia's and Jason's faces, they were white as snow. I have to admit even I didn't see that one coming.

"But...bu.. that's incest!" Thalia tried to protest.

"Jason picked Dare, let him deal with that." Calypso said clearly satisfied.

"That's kinda dirty Calypso. I like it." Leo joined in on the conversation and sent a smile towards Calypso.

"I thank you my kind sir." she replied trying to act like a lady.

Jason gave Piper a short look and then to Thalia. They got closer and closer to each other until their lips met in a very stiff short kiss.

Everybody cheered and yelled.

They parted from each other and started to make throwing up noises and clean their lips from imaginary filth but they had smiles on their faces.

"Well played Calypso, well played." Thalia nodded towards Calypso.

Everyone laughed.

I looked to the side and caught Percy smiling and laughing while staring at me, he wasn't smooth at all then again he was also drunk.

Despite what every nerve in my body told me I smiled back at him and took another sip from the beer.

It was Jason's turn to spin the bottle.

Grover.

"Truth or dare buddy?" he asked Grover.

"Uhmm.. I'll actually go for truth." he answered.

"Fair enough. How about... is it true that you're in love with Juniper?"

For a second it seemed like he was gonna deny it but he just sighed and said yes.

Everyone gave him a smile and piper came to his aid. "That's cute Grover."

"Ok then! Spin Grover!" Will said.

Back to Thalia.

"Truth or dare Thalia?" Grover asked her.

"You know what? I'll go for truth after last time." she gave Calypso her famous gaze of death.

"Is it true that you once were with a girl?" Grover asked. I could see from the corner of my eye Percy's lips turn into a cheeky smile.

"Well duh, I thought everyone knew that." she said with a grin. "My turn again!"

And of course the bottle points at me. Fuck.

"Truth or dare Annie?" she said smiling from ear to ear.

"Ahh what the fuck, dare." I said trying to not make eye contact with Percy that was still sitting near me.

"Well then, I dare you to..." she was suddenly cut off by noises that came from outside of our glade.

"I think I see light over there!" a voice yelled

"This way! This way!" another called.

"Quickly, put out the fire!" everyone started to run around, we put out the fire and remained in complete darkness. Suddenly I felt someone grab my hand and I was dragged into the trees while the darkness enveloped me.

 **Well? I decided to make it up to you and give you another episode but this time a long one!**

 **I really hope you enjoyed and I'd love to hear everyone's feedback on it!**

 **Have a nice evening and as always,**

 **I love you babies,**

 **Niel.**


	5. Chapter 5 (Rewritten)

**So I decided to rewrite this episode since I was so displeased with how the first version turned out. I hope you do forgive me and that you'll be way happier with his episode than the last one.**

I felt someone pulling me into the woods and we crashed into the ground.

I started to panic a little bit and tried to fight whoever it was while trying to remain silent so the teachers that raided our camp wouldn't hear us.

"Annabeth, calm down. It's me, Percy."

"Jesus Jackson, you didn't have to do that. I would've been fine." I said as I slowly got up and brushed the leaves from my clothes.

It was still very dark but I could see Percy's figure laying on the ground, he seemed to take his time.

"We should get back to our dorms before they start checking the rooms." I said to the dark figure that in the meantime got up and brushed his cloths just like I did.  
"Sound like a good idea, and next time... Try not to fight me when I save your ass." I could hear a smile forming when he finished his sentence.

I laughed a little bit and said, "Fair enough Jackson."

I could think of half a dozen witty comments but I was way too tired for my own nonsense.

It was very dark between the woods and bushes and it was getting colder by the minute, especially now that we weren't near the long extinguished camp fire.

I started to walk slowly towards where I thought was the school and Percy followed.

After about 20 minutes of wandering about in the woods I started to doubt myself and Percy definitely didn't help. "Are you sure you know where you are going?"

"I thought I did. But It seems like we are lost." I sighed.

"It can't be that hard, all we need to do is go up hill right? At some point we are bound to get to the school's ground." He said and I nodded and then when I remembered he probably couldn't see me I said yes.

"In that case just follow me." he said and gave me his hand.

"You wish Jackson, I can still walk by myself." I said with a tired voice. It wasn't like I didn't appreciate the gesture but I was pretty sure he was still drunk and I didn't want him to get the wrong impression. The two of us wandering around in the woods in the middle of the night holding hands under the moonlight... Yeah, the drunk boy might get the wrong impression.

He laughed and carried on.

We continued to walk in the woods for another 10 minutes or so and still got nowhere, and I was starting to get frustrated and more tired as the time went on.

It was beautiful out there, and from time to time we heard wild life around us but at that moment I just wanted to be back in my bed and sleep for a day or two.

Percy kept his distance from me, he was leading us and was a little more than a meter away from me and most of the time we walked in silence, the excuse was that so nobody will hear us talking but it was an uncomfortable silence and it seemed like no one knew exactly what to say.

"Can we stop for a minute?" I asked as I was feeling exhausted.

"Already tired Annie?" He teased me, giving me his cheeky smile.

I frowned for a second and then decided I was too tired to protest about him calling me Annie.

"As a matter of fact I am tired, It's almost morning by now and we can't seem to find our way back to the school despite the fact it should be as easy as walking in a straight line." I sat down on a small rock to catch my breath.

"No worries, we'll just wait here for a bit and I'll try to think about what we are doing wrong." he said and gave me a worried look. It was quite hard for me to admit it at that moment but he definitely looked cute giving me that look.

"Thanks." I mumbled and looked down to the ground, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

He closed the distance between us and sat beside me, leaning on a tree.

"Don't worry, we will be back soon enough. Once we get there just say you feel sick or something and take the day off." he said. "At least that's what I'm planning to do." he smiled.

"Smart decision." I said. "But I don't think I can afford to miss classes."

"Come on Annabeth, it's just one day. I'll show you something cool." he said while looking at me.

I kept looking forward. "I don't think that's what gonna make me skip school for a day." I said, giving him a playful smile for a change. He laughed and looked back into the dark woods.

The sun was starting to come up, the air got a bit warmer and we could see little streaks of light through the thick leaf cover.

I sighed. "What do you want to show me?" I asked interested in what he had planned.

"But that's a surprise." he laughed and gave me a naughty smile.

"Pfff." I frowned. "Math sounds so much better now..." I said, trying to extort an answer from him.

"Oh does it?" he clearly didn't buy it. "You can have fun trying to... uhm... do math stuff while I take a little trip of my own."

"You really don't listen in math class at all ha?" I asked laughing at his poor attempt to intrigue me even more. "Not even one bit." he said and laughed as well.

"So you're going on a trip?" I asked, still trying to get an answer from him.

"Yes."

"Well, where to? We are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town is 14 miles away."

"That's a good point... if only I had a car..." he said smiling as he pulled something from his pockets which I assumed was a key chain with keys to a car but since it was so dark it was quite hard to tell.

"First of all, it's peach black here, I barely see your hand, definitely not what's in it and secondly how did you get a car?"

"Let's just say I know a guy who has a twin brother who knows a guy who might have given me these keys without knowing what I'm gonna do with them." he said with a smile.

"That's illegal, do you want to get kicked out of here already?" I asked frowning.

"It's gonna be fine, we'll be back in a few hours and no harm will be done."

He put on his innocent face. "If anything, you have to accompany me now. It will be down right irresponsible of you to not after you've heard my plan. For my safety, and the car's of course."

"I don't even know where you are going and you expect me to accept?"

"Is that a yes?"

"No, it's freaking tell me where you are planning to go and maybe I'll consider not letting you do stupid shit alone which will lead to your departure from this school." I said irritated.

"So you don't want me to leave this place? Annie, I'm touched." he teased.

"Jackson! Don't you ever call me Annie again or I swear I'll make you regret it!"

"Regret? How?" he said still teasing, thinking he was being charming.

"You want to test me?"

"What if I do?"

"Hmmm, how about I'll start with not going with you for your little trip, then I'll tell the teachers how you got those car keys of yours and I'll round it off with letting them know that you sneaked out of the school's grounds to the woods only to drink in the middle of the night? Does that sound good enough for you Jackson?"

"And all of this just because I called you Annie... I am quite scared to see what you do to people who actually hurt you." he said, probably imagining me water boarding some guy in a dungeon.

"I think we should start heading back to the school again."

"So I'll take that as a yes."

And with that he turned away from me and started going uphill towards the school outside fence.

"Jesus Christ..." I mumbled to myself with disbelief.

After only 5 minutes we reached the school's fence and found a quiet spot where no one will be able to spot us from and got back into the school's ground.

As I was heading for the dorms Percy stopped me. "Yes?" I asked quite tired of him.

"We are not going to sleep if we want to make it back in time."

"Are you kidding me Jackson?"

"Come on Annabeth, forgot school for a day, you're 16 years old, try to have some fun just for one day. After tomorrow I promise not to talk to you for like... a day."

"A day you say?"

"Well, maybe a few hours."

"Jackson..."

"More like an hour."

"Phh."

"Probably less." he kept going.

"This is the worst way to convince someone to agree." I said while sighing.

"Let's settle on a whole class?" he said offering what probably seemed very fair to him.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but fine."

He gave me a huge smile and signaled me to follow him.

"For the car's safety." I added.

"Of course."

I didn't see his face since I was behind him but I was sure he had a fairly big smile on his face at that moment.

"So where are we going?" I asked as I was walking beside him.

"To get breakfast of course. I don't know what about you but I'm hungry as hell."

"Gotta agree with you on that one." I said.

He led us to the parking lot and stopped near a small Honda Civic, as if that means something to me. At first I was a bit hesitant about doing this, I mean it was kind of stealing a car from a teacher and that could get us to some really deep trouble but the way Percy was talking to me as if I was a small girl who needs daddy to hold her hand annoyed me so much I just had to prove him wrong.

"Can I ask who's car is that?"

"Uhm no one serious... Just Mr. D's." he answered in innocent tone.

"We are so doomed if we get caught."

"Then let's not get caught." he said, unlocked the car and opened the door. "Get in."

I got into the car that smelled from wine and beer and and put on the safety belt as he was starting to exit the parking spot and head for the road out of the school's grounds.

"So when did you get your license?" I asked as I was checking the rear view mirror.

"Well, that's a good question. I mean, the tester was kind of a bitch and failed me like three times... But don't worry, I know what I'm doing, I used to take my mom's car every once in a while for some drives at the beach." he said as if the information he just handed me was trivial.

"Jackson, you're mad. Get. Me. Out. Now." I started to get second thoughts about this little trip that might end in us dying in a burning car after the boy couldn't use the breaks.

"Calm down, it's fine, the road is pretty much all straight, even if I wanted to kill us it would be quite hard. Just sit back, relax and enjoy my smooth driving." he said and gave me a confident smile.

At that moment I wished there was at least a few more seat belts that I could strap onto myself and maybe wear a pillow armor but all I had was a handle above my head that I held to as if my life was dependent on it. In some way, that was the case.

"Ok, now that we are on the road I hope you didn't plan on kidnapping me." I said jokingly.

"Of course not, I wouldn't do that in daylight..." he smiled but kept his eyes on the road which made me feel better about his driving, I mean, at least he wasn't a complete idiot but on some weird level I had to urge to stare into his eyes. I quickly dismissed that thought and focused on finding out where we are headed to.

"I assume we are heading towards the nearest town..." I said since it was the most logical thing unless he was planning on driving for an entire day to get to the nearest city.

"Yup, I know a cool place there with pretty decent food. I'm starving."

"I don't have money on me thought."

"Uh, don't worry, breakfast is on me." he answered.

"You really don't have to Percy, I'm not that hungry." I tried avoiding the awkward situation.

"Don't worry about." he paused as if he was thinking. "Let's just say you owe me on Chase."

"Fair enough Jackson." I answered with a small smile on my lips.

We both were in a good mood when he stopped the car in front of a small diner.

"This is it." he said as he was parking the car.

It was a small town and quite early in the morning so there wasn't much traffic in the streets except a car every once in a while. The air was refreshing and cold and there was a little bit of fog.

The town was down hill compered to the school so we saw the mountains towering over us in an almost intimidating manner.

The time was around 6:10 so it was early enough for people not to be in the diner just yet but late enough for it to be open. We walked in, and picked a table near one of the windows that were watching over the street.

"So how do you know this place?" I asked a bit surprised since he wasn't around for so long.

"Well you see, on the first day here, before I checked in the school my mom took me here. It was just a random diner but I liked it here." he answered with a sad look on his face.

I felt a bit nosy so I decided to see how much information I can get out of Percy.

"Why did you come here in the first place?"

He looked at me for a second as if he was trying to understand if I was mocking him and then continued. "My mom thought it was the best thing for me. Let's just say that a lot of discipline issues in numerous schools don't really make me the easiest kid in the world. So after I got expelled from my last school she **dropped** me here." he expressed that word with some resent in his voice.

"Anyways." he continued. "She knew Paul and asked him if I could attend this school and I guess he did her a favor."

"So on your first week here you decide it would be a good idea to steal the principle's car?" I asked with disbelief.

"If it was clear already, I will do a lot of stupid things to impress pretty girls." he said with a charming smile that was interrupted by our waitress.

"What can I get you?" asked a girl roughly our age with a pen in her hand.

Percy gave me a quick look and returned to the girl who was waiting for our order.

"Scrambled eggs, some pancakes and a coke." Percy ordered.

"Scrambled eggs, pancakes and one coke." the girl repeated him as she was writing in her notebook.

"I'll have the same minus the pancakes." I ordered as the girl turned her focus to me.

I couldn't help but notice that all throughout that time the waitress was sneaking looks towards Percy while he was completely oblivious to her as he was playing with the well worn menu.

When she was done writing the order and Percy was done playing with the menu he handed it back to her while she gave him a smile. "Scrambled eggs, pancakes and coke coming right up."

She gave him one last small smile as she returned to the kitchen to hand over the order to the cook.

As she was walking away from the table turned his head to look at her walking away. After a second or so he turned his head back to me only to find me giving him weird looks.

"Well she was nice." he said.

"She might want you to return a favor and serve her a **coke** as well." I said giving him meaningful looks but he just seemed confused.

"Oh come on Jackson, don't tell me that you're that blind. She was trying to hit all over you, unfortunately for her you were to busy hitting on the menu."

"Oh, well... I was trying to see what I wanted for breakfast." he defended himself.

"At least I know you have your priorities sorted just right." I laughed.

"I'll drink for that." he added.

"So how did you get here?" he asked me this time.

Just like he did it took me a few seconds to answer the question.

I suddenly remembered my step mother and all the bad memories that always escorted her.

"Let's just say some family issues. Me and might step mother didn't quite get along."

"Trust me, I know a thing or two about how fucked up step family members can be." he sympathized with me.

"What's your story?"

"Long story short, a really hated step father, saying we didn't get along is quite the understatement."

In the meantime the waitress came back with our orders and placed down the food on the table as well as the drinks.

"Enjoy your time!" she said happily as she finished serving us, sneaked another smile towards Percy and left the table quickly, heading towards another one with what looked like a drunk truck driver who was urging her to get him more coffee.

"Fuck step mothers, step fathers and the like!" I said and raised my bottle of coke.

"And for priorities" Percy added.

"Cheers!"

Our bottles clashed and each of us took a sip and started to eat the food on our plates.

The rest of our time in the coffee shop went quietly as the truck driver left in a hurry mumbling about how he was going to get fired, the girl that was serving us was at the counter reading a newspaper and from time to time sneaking some looks to Percy as he and I were finishing our meal.

Twenty minutes later we both were quite satisfied with our morning breakfast which was ten times better than the regular food they serve in the school.

"I gotta say, it was really good." I said as I was mopping my mouth and took another sip from my coke bottle.

"I told you this place is good. It's a shame they don't serve blue eggs and pancakes though." he mumbled to himself as if we was reminiscing on some old memory.

"I'm sorry what?"

"Blue eggs, pancakes, it looks really good. My mom used to do that for me and somehow it makes the food taste so much better." he said with a sigh and a small smile on his face as if he was reliving a happy memory.

"That sounds interesting." I said chuckling at the thought of eating blue food.

"Anyhow, are we going back to school now?" I asked Percy who was ordering the check.

"Not just yet, it's only seven in the morning right now, people are just waking up and school day is just starting. No, I intend to miss most of today and sleep until tomorrow morning once we get back."

"Sounds like a plan, so where do we go from here?" I asked.

The waitress approached our table. "That will be 17.69 dollars." she said with a sweet smile.

"Just a sec..." Percy said as he was stretching to reach for the money from his pockets, pulled out twenty dollars in coins and handed in over to the girl. "Keep the change." he said and gave her a polite smile.

"Thanks." she answered and put the extra coins in her pockets.

As we were heading out of the diner the girl said with a sweet voice "Come again!"

"I'll see you around Reyna." Percy called back to the girl as we left the diner.

"Wait, so you know her?" I asked surprised.

"I do, last time I was here after my mom left me I stuck around here for a while before I took the bus to the school and we got the chance to talk for a little bit. She is a cute girl, and this wasn't the first time I got those looks from her." he said with a satisfied smile on his face.

 **I thought this was a good place to stop the chapter and like I said before I hope you like this version much more than the first one. I hope that now since it's summer I'll be able to upload much more until school starts once again.**

 **I always love to hear your feedback on what I write so every review is appreciated!**

 **This is it for today,**

 **As always,**

 **Love you babies,**

 **Niel.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi? Remember me? It's soooo long since the last time i updated. I've been busy with so many different things I prefered to put this aside to a better time. I'm extremely sorry for those of you who waited all this time.  
I can't promise I'll update very often since I'm still very busy and will be all throughout the summer vacation as well, but I'll try to update more before I finish highschool next year and off to the military which will be my final goodbye to you all.**

 **By the way, I have to say that i reread all that I wrote right before the time I'm writing this to remember everything that happened and I have to say I have been extremely sloppy with my writing, stuff I will try to improve on. I hope you will find that my writing has improved in the past year and you will find it more enjoyable.**

 **With that being said, enjoy the episode!**

Percy and I got out of the coffee shope and were out on the street. Since it was still early, not many people walked the streets. a woman and a man walked a dog together and someone else jogged and ran passed us. The town gave an impression of a very sleepy place.  
"So... what now?" I asked Percy.  
"That's a good question..." He took his time answering, reflecting on what we are about to do next.  
"Don't tell me you didn't come prepared." I said, teasing.  
He gave me a smile and said, "For your information, until around 8PM yesterday I had no idea I was going to join your secret club in the woods, so I definitely didn't come prepared. I like improvising."  
"Fair enough. How about we go and sit in the park for a little while? I got stuffed from this breakfast." I said, pointing at where the couple were walking their dog just a few minutes ago.  
"Stuffed? It was barely a snack. I'm still hungry..." He answered and mumbled the last part to himself.  
",Trust me, after a few months in that school you'll get so used to them starving you to death with awful food that a small breakfast like that will feel like a feast."  
"I'll have to see that for myself." he said. "Lead the way."  
I made my way across the street towards the park and Percy followed.  
The place was quite pretty and well maintained. Despite living in the boarding school for a few months now I never actually came down to this town. It was quite the mistake since it clearly had a lot to offer. I mean, amazing scrambled eggs and well maintained parks, what more a girl can ask for?  
"This place is really cool. Grover would like it." I said.  
"He is a really cool guy, he really likes nature ha?"  
"He sure does. He loves everything about it. I can understand what he likes about it. It's so calm and quite, you really start to appreciate the small things."  
A couple of other joggers ran past us.  
"I have no idea how they can wake up, get out of bed and start running. All I want to do is just keep my eyes closed and skip first class." Percy said, interrupting the silence that was created.  
"Not a morning person then?"  
"Not by a long shot." He laughed. "I think that the world will have to be in grave danger for me to even consider waking up early and going on a run."  
"Well then, how about we go on a morning run sometime? Just for the sake of seeing you on the verge of suicide in the morning." I laughed at him.  
I have no idea where that idea came from but I figured it wasn't that bad of an idea. I would just run with him, humiliate him and then it would be over. Nothing too complicated right?  
"Oooh, I don't know Annie, seems like a lot of trouble for just a run." He said smiling.  
"Suit yourself Jackson, but don't cry when I get a better score than you when couch makes us run." He just laughed and looked forward and I, got caught in his eyes once again.  
We sat in silence for a little while, not an awkward one, but a silence between two friends enjoying each other's company.  
Did I just call him a friend? Eh, scratch that. A silence between a mature, smart, intelligent, blonde, young woman and an immature child.  
Nevertheless, it was enjoyable although I had trouble understanding where this is going. Are we just being friendly with each other after the new start he requested? Or am I getting too drawn to him? Plus, to make this whole teen drama complete there's Luke.  
I've had a huge crush on him ever since the first moment I laid my eyes on his a couple of months ago.  
I mentally sighed. This was not the place nor the time to think about this sort of things. At that moment I needed to stress myself about what would happen if the teacher not only found out about what happened last night in the woods but the fact that me and that delinquent Jackson, stole the principle's car and went on a road trip on our own, skipping school, driving without a license and disregarding every singe bit of common sense we had in our small brains.  
Yup, I think it's a pretty reasonable thing to stress about.  
"We could get expelled you know?" I said.  
"We can go back if you want to."  
"No, no. It's just that... You're a really bad influence on me Jackson."  
"I'm trying Chase."  
We sat that for another ten minutes or so when Percy got up. "Come on, this is boring. Let's do something interesting."  
"Excuse me Jackson? You didn't like my activity?" I gave him a dangerous look.  
"Oh no, it was lovely but... I prefer to move around. You have no idea how hard it was for me to sit in the same place for an hour." He gave me an apologizing look.  
I waved it off.  
"So now what?" I asked.  
"Now... now we go and..." He was interrupted by a man in a wheelchair that rushed towards us.  
He was a teacher. The vice principle nontheless.  
"Percy. Annabeth. Can I ask what are you two doing here today?" The old man asked in politeness that mislead us to believe that he wasn't mad at us.  
I panicked. This was the worst possible outcome to this stupid adventure. We got caught and now we will be expelled from school. I will never see my friends again and I'll have to go back to San Francisco. Why was I being so stupid?! What did I think to myself?!  
Percy and I exchanged worried looks, not quite sure what to say.  
He sighed.  
"Come with me." He said, turned around and started pushing his wheelchair down the street. He was taking us to where Percy parked the car.  
We reached the car that was parked right in front of the coffee shop we had our breakfast in.  
"I hope you realize that I can't simply look the other way this time Percy." He said with a sad voice. "What you did last night and today could have ended horribly for everyone involved."  
"Mr. Brunner... This is my fault. I convinced Annabeth to come with me." Percy blurted out.  
"As noble as it is Percy, you both will have to take responsibility for what you did." He paused for a few second. no one spoke. I didn't dare to say anything. I knew that whatever we had coming, we deserved it.  
"Mr. Brunner, there has to be something we can do." Percy looked at me and I nodded. The last thing I wanted to do was to go back to San Francisco.

 _It was a warm afternoon in San Francisco. The sun was setting down, painting the sky with shades of pink and red.  
I was taking the bus back to my home from a friend of mine. We met after school, got some homework done and talked about some girl things. Bryan, the cutest guy in middle school, asked her to go out for ice cream.  
I was looking outside the window, dreading the moment I would reach the front door of our building, going up the stairs and opening the door.  
I sighed and kept staring outside the bus window, enjoying the few moments of silence before I would have to deal with my step mom and my dad.  
More than I was pissed at my step mom for being such a disgusting person, I was mad at my dad for doing this to me. I felt selfish at times, thinking only about myself but I just couldn't take it anymore.  
It's been two years since Mom died and just 8 months afterwards he finds another woman for himself. He was so eager to find Mom a replacement, substitute her for a better, younger one.  
Does he think me a fool? Like I can't understand what he was doing, trying to get over the death of my Mom with another woman, while I, was left to mellow in the hole that was created because the loss of my mother. And if that wasn't enough, I had to deal with my father inviting that woman into our life.  
She was in the advanced stages of the pregnancy. I didn't knew which month. I didn't care.  
My eyes were starting to tear. I wiped them quickly, determined to not let anyone see them.  
The bus stopped at my station. I got off the bus and started walking towards my street.  
It just wasn't fair. How could he just move on like that, as if Mom hadn't died, or even worse, hadn't even lived.  
I felt like a relic from the past, completely disconnected from this reality, like I didn't belong there anymore. I needed to get out and leave this place.  
I reached the building.  
Before entering I took one last look around. It seemed a bit cruel. It was quite a beautiful afternoon, the pink sky were beautiful and you could see the mountains in the distance.  
I sighed and went upstairs.  
While opening the door I already knew that it wasn't going to end well. I could hear my dad and step mom argue and I knew exactly what was about to come.  
"I don't know what you want me to say. She is my daughter, I can't just send her off" I heard my father. I hoped I would be able to sneak past them and get to my room before they notice me.  
There was a small pause, they probably heard the door open and decided to end their conversation. "Think about it Fred." She replied and left the kitchen to the living room, destroying the slight possibility they wouldn't notice me.  
"Oh, It's you." She said, a bit surprised but quickly regained her venomous __attitude. "There are dishes to be cleaned. Get to it before dinner."  
_ _I sighed and headed towards the kitchen with my backpack still on me. I laid it down on the floor and gave my Dad a flat look.  
"How are you doing Annie? He reached out for a hug but I avoided it. "I' m fine." I lied. He sighed.  
"Talk to me Annie, what is it?" He tried again.  
"You know exactly what it is! Don't even try to play innocent." I said, starting to feel how the anger is building up inside of me. I just couldn't stand another fight like last time. Determined to not let it escalate to there I stood in front of the sink and I poured some soup on a sponge and picked up a plate from the dirty sink.  
"I know it's hard for you but try to understand me... You're a smart girl, I need your help." My father said with a soft voice.  
"No, you need HER. You don't need me... or Mom." the last part brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't control the flow of the salty tears and soon enough I was washing the dishes with my tears as well.  
"Annabeth. Not again." His voice hardened.  
"Not again what?! Should I just never mention Mom ever again? Is that what you want me to do?! To just forget she ever existed and act like THAT woman is my mom?!" I yelled and pointed at the living room. I just couldn't stand doing this anymore. I couldn't just pretend to have moved on from what happened.  
"Annabeth!" He clearly had no idea what to say.  
"No! I'm done pretending that we are a happy family! As if SHE will ever be a part of MY family." I yelled and dropped the cleaned plate on the floor. "Maybe you're fine with what YOU did that night, maybe you can just move on, but I can't!" The plate shattered into a million pieces. I didn't bother to clean up the mess I did, I just rushed to my room, picking up my backpack on the way.  
I slammed the door and jumped into my bed, waiting for sleep to get me out of that house._

 _"Annie, wake up." I heard someone whisper into my ear, through the cobs of sleep.  
"Hmmmmm." Was the only thing I managed to say.  
"Come on, we need to talk." The voice persisted.  
What an annoying voice, can't he see I just want to be left alone? "Leave me alone. I don't want to talk."  
"I'm afraid you'll have to listen to your older brother and get up."  
I opened an eye lid, eyeing my brother who sat next to me on the bed. He smiled to me. I smiled back. If there was someone who always cheered me up, it was Malcolm.  
"Fine, I'm up."  
"Good." He paused for a few seconds. "I heard what happened earlier."  
The only response I could muster was a sigh.  
"It'll be OK. Trust me will you?" he asked.  
"I always trust you."  
Malcolm was my older brother, two years older and was probably the only reason why I didn't run off. He was always there for me. Needless to say I trusted him with my eyes closed.  
"I promise it will get better soon." He smiled and left the room.  
I sighed once again, wondering if that was the only reason he waked me up. Despite his visit cheering me up, it could have waited for the morning, why was it so urgent?  
With those thoughts in my mind I quickly sank back into a dreamless sleep._

 _A month later, we were already into the summer vacation and I found out what Malcolm meant.  
I was to be shipped to a boarding school up north, somewhere in Washington state, close to the Canadian border. Miles from my Dad and step mom.  
One on hand, I was extremely happy I wouldn't have to deal with them for a long time, but on the other hand, I wouldn't know what happened with my friend and Bryan, the cutest boy, I would probably lose touch with all of my friends here, I'd have to meet new people and make new friends. But the worst thing about this was Malcolm. I wouldn't see Malcolm for months, that is if I would even come back home on vacations.  
I packed everything I needed in a backpack and a duffel bag. Me, my Dad and step mom, who was by that time was expecting to go into labor every day, walked down the stairs to our car that was parked right in front of the building, while Malcolm was, for some reason, delaying up in the apartment.  
I placed my duffel bag and backpack in the back of the car and opened the front passenger seat. I knew my step mom won't be joining the twelve hour drive.  
I sighed and look forward through the front windshield. I already said my goodbyes to all of my friends, few as they were, and from Malcolm. I would still be with my Dad for the next twelve or so hours so I didn't feel the need to say my goodbyes to him as well just yet. As to my step mom... Well, I didn't feel any need to give her any kind of attention. After all, she was the one that pushed my father to send me off to a boarding school, almost one thousand miles away from my home, friends and from my lousy family.  
I saw Malcolm coming down the stairs of the building and rushing towards us. He was holding a... backpack and a duffel bag himself. I looked at him, puzzled.  
He shot me a wide, loving smile. "Didn't think I would leave you, did you?" Suddenly, the burden I felt for the past two years was slightly lighter. I got out of the car and jumped on my big brother.  
I laughed.  
It felt like for the longest time I couldn't bring myself to laugh, even when Malcolm did his best to cheer me up. Him coming with me... That was the new start I wanted. He was all I needed with me.  
"I love you, brother."  
"I love you too Annie."_

I refocused my thoughts. I sank deep in my memories from before I got here and I felt the tears forming in my eyes. I can't go back to San Francisco. I won't.  
"Mr Brunner." I started. "We know what we did was wrong. Please don't expel us." I was practically begging him.  
He gave us a small smile. "Don't worry, I wouldn't do anything like that. Even if you both deserve it." Percy and I let out a sigh of relief.  
"Don't think you're off the hook just yet. Once you're back to the school's grounds you will be questioned about last night, and if found guilty of underage drinking, leaving the school grounds, stealing a staff member's car, illegally driving and lying to the staff you have to deal with the consequences. Since this is my day off and I'm off duty I will pretend to have never seen you nor Principle D.'s car, but tread carefully. I would hate to see you two being expelled from the school so early in the year."  
"You got it sir." Percy said quickly.  
"Dismissed." Mr. Brunner said.  
We turned around and were about to head back to the car when Mr. Brunner spoke again. "Oh and Percy, Annabeth."  
"Yes?" We answered together.  
"Next time, make less noise when you party all in the middle of the woods. I heard it was quite easy finding you guys by just following the voices." He smiled towards us and turned his wheelchair, heading back to where he came from.

 **So this is the episode. I tried my best to get back into the swing of things and wrote for at least 4 or so hours today. Once again, I'm extremely sorry for a year of no updates. I'm also really interested if anyone who used to read this in the beginning is still here, so please let me know if you are in the reviews!  
New comers are always welcome, so don't be shy and let me know if you enjoyed it and your thoughts in general.  
I don't want to promise anything about updates to come but a follow is always appreciated.**

 **I've missed you,  
and as always,  
I love you babies 3**

 **Niel.**


	7. Chapter 7

****I'm bringing you the 7th chapter right before I'm heading to my History final so that's a thing. Really trying to push myself when it comes to updating. Pretty much wrote the entire chapter yesterday until midnight. Didn't study for more than thirty minutes for my final so wish me luck!  
And enjoy the episode! Tell me what you thought in the reviews!****

"That was way too close." Percy said. We were right in front of the car, intending to head back to the school. I looked at the reflection in the car's window. I saw a fairly upset, gray eyed blonde. I took a deep breath and wiped my watery eyes. I usually tried to avoid those memories. For a few seconds I thought I would have to go back to San Francisco, leave Malcolm here and deal with my Dad and step mom all alone. Although, knowing Malcolm, he would have probably found a way to get expelled as well, just to not leave me alone once again.  
"Are you OK?" Percy asked, realizing I was deeply absorbed in thought.  
"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine. It's nothing. Let's just head back to the school, Math sounds amazing right now." I chuckled with a weak voice.  
"Agreed." 

We made our way to the school in silence. No one spoke. I looked outside from the passenger's window and Percy was focused driving.  
"What happened back there?" He asked.  
Of course he couldn't keep quite for more than a minute.  
"Nothing."  
"Come on, that was not nothing." He insisted.  
"Look Percy, No offense, but it's none of your business."  
"Non taken." He mumbled. I sighed.  
We were already at the gates, Percy parked the car and I immediately got out of it, before he even finished. It was just 9 AM, the whole day was ahead of us but I was exhausted from last night and our little adventure. I knew I was not going to class for the rest of the day, might as well pretend I just didn't wake up in the morning cause I didn't feel well than spend the next 6 hours in class, trying to catch a few minutes of sleep every time the teacher turns his back to the class.  
I made my way to the dorms through the front lawn when Percy followed me.  
"Are you heading to sleep as well?" I asked.  
"Only if you invite me." He gave me a naughty smile. "I think I did enough things today that I will regret, so no thanks."  
"Are you sure? We could have a sleepover, we'll pillow fight and talk about boys throughout the entire night." He continued. "Or noon in our case."  
"As tempting as it sounds, I'll have to pass."  
"I'm just saying Chase, but my PJ's are really cute, I think you'll like 'em."  
"Don't you get it Jackson? The car is OK right? I did my part. Nothing is different between us. Just...Just leave me alone." I sighed and rushed into my floor in the dorm building, leaving him behind.  
I was tired and upset. Of course it wasn't any of Percy's fault but I just had to get away for a little while. The sudden threat of coming back to San Francisco brought back some bad memories. My father sending me away, my bitchy step mom, and...my Mom.  
She died years ago but it's something I don't think I will ever get over it. I couldn't handle Jackson's playfulness at the moment.  
I felt bad for how I reacted, I would probably have to apologize to him later on. But for now, I needed sleep and a lot of it.  
I made my way to my room when I was stopped right in front of the door. "Ms. Chase."  
I sighed when I heard the voice call out for me. I turned around. "Yes?" It was Paul, my English teacher. "You're needed in the principle's office."  
The thought that we just came back and already got caught got me panicked again but I quickly calmed myself down. I will not break down again, I have to be strong, especially in front of a member of the staff. I couldn't let him see me panic, that would indicate that I'm at fault.  
"I'll be on my way in a minute, can I just go in and use the bathroom?"  
"I'm afraid it's urgent Annabeth." Paul gave me a sympathetic look.  
"Fine." I walked with him out of the dorms and towards the principle's office.  
Paul led me to the reception room and said I should wait here until Mr. D can see me.  
Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed and I still sat in the reception room, waiting. The bell rang. A few minutes later a huge group of people walked into the reception room. Thalia, Calypso, Percy, Jason, Leo, Malcolm, Will and Grover. Most of us that were out in the woods last night.  
They were clearly arguing between themselves before they walked into the room, probably coordinating versions.  
"Annie!" Malcolm called, surprised to see me. "I was worried sick about you! Where were you?"  
Percy and I exchanged quick looks and I directed my attention back to Malcolm. "I'll tell you once we are done with Mr. D."  
He nodded. "Text me or something next time, we were certain that you fell of a cliff when we didn't find you after... what happened."  
"Shut up Malcolm!" Thalia half whispered half shouted. She pointed with her chin towards Mr. D's office door. She clearly didn't want him to blow their cover story. I took a moment to think things through. The fact that Malcolm had no idea where I was means that Percy didn't tell them about what we did, or at least, didn't mention I was a part of it. I quickly observed Percy. He was having a conversation with Calypso at the back of the room, they were both smiling and laughing... I felt a sting of dissatisfaction that I quickly dismissed.  
Thalia noticed where my eyes were directed, leaned in and whispered. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts." I could practically hear the smile on her lips. But I wasn't in the mood for teasing. "Not now Thalia."  
We were still waiting for something to happen. I was sitting with Malcolm, Thalia and Luke next to me, absorbed in thought, not paying too much attention to anything else but my thoughts, but I quickly scanned the room. Percy and Calypso were still chatting. both looking like they're enjoying each other's company, Leo was having a conversation with Jason and Thalia, sneaking looks to Calypso from time to time and Will and Grover were having their own conversation, Grover chatting some nonsense about not being able to just put a band aid on the rain forests. I smiled weakly at their conversation.  
"So what is the plan?" I leaned and whispered towards Malcolm and Luke. "They would probably drag us in one by one and ask us about last night, I need to have my story straight. At least that's what I would've done."  
"Look, just say that we all met up outside the school to sit around and blow off some steam. Honestly, there's not much we can lie about. Thalia told us that you guys got spotted at the fence and were chased and them founding out where we were doesn't leave us a lot of options. Just don't mention Alcohol and I think we'll be fine. I hope they will just give us detentions for a month or two, extra homework, maybe some duty work around the school and stuff like that." Luke answered.  
I nodded, Luke made sense. "Cheer up Annie, it'll be fine, Mr. D is probably too drunk to understand what questions he will ask us." Luke gave me a charming smile. I returned the favor. I saw from the corner of my that Malcolm, who was sitting right between us had a small cheeky smile on his face so I elbowed him without Luke noticing, signaling him that he shouldn't get any ideas.  
"What worries me is who sold us. Think about it, it had to be someone who is in this room right now." Malcolm whispered to me and Luke so no one else could hear.  
"Not necessarily, Piper and the Stoles aren't here." Luke mentioned.  
"That's true..." Malcolm was considering the option that one of those three ratted us to the teachers.  
"Come on Luke, the Stoles would never rat anyone, they were pretty much raised as criminals, they have a code." I said, completely dismissing that thought. "Well, what about Piper? Why isn't she here?" Luke continued.  
"That's a good point, let's find out." Malcolm said. "Yo, Jason." He called him across the room.  
"What is it?"  
"Where's Piper? Why isn't she here with us?" Malcolm asked. "Still in class, I have no idea how but that girl can talk herself out of any situation."  
It sounded like typical Piper, nothing out of the ordinary.  
"So we are back to square one." I whispered to Luke and Malcolm again.  
"I think it's best if we discuss this out in the open with everyone once we get this shit done with." Malcolm suggested.  
"Agreed."  
"Yeah." I agreed. The thought that someone ratted us out to the staff was quite disturbing mostly because it wasn't that far fetched. We knew each other for only a few months, we all met in the in beginning of the school year, in September. It was just December now.  
I scanned the room once again, looking at my friends, trying to imagine who did it. Of course Jackson immediately came to mind but at the moment I had no idea if it was just my mixed feelings towards him or that I had a legitimate reason to be suspicious of him so I decided to leave that for later on. We would all meet this afternoon and try to sort this out, that is if we don't all get expelled.  
And so we waited until finally the door opened. "Thalia Grace, come in." Mr. D called her in the office. "Close the door behind you."  
Thalia got up, stretched her neck before going in, gave us a confident smile and closed the door.  
"That girl better not piss him off right off the bat." Jason said.  
"If I had to guess, I'd say that's exactly what's going to happen." Luke smiled at the thought.  
Another ten minute passed and Thalia still didn't come out. We were all already on the edge of our seat when we were called in but now it was just torture. "Maybe she killed him and now is trying to make it look like an accident." Leo suggested.  
"Should I knock?" Will asked.  
"Guys, calm down, they're just trying to make us sweat. See if someone will break before he even enters the room and if Thalia is as bad as you say she is, she is probably just giving him hell." Percy was clearly experienced with this procedure.  
"He is right, just stay calm and remember what we discussed about." Jason joined. The two of them were clearly nature born leaders. But they had one major difference between them. It seemed like Jason was born for speeches, reassuring people, born for this role, wheres Percy gave off the impression that he was forced to rise up to the occasion, it didn't look like he enjoyed it but like he knew he needed to do something about it. It sent me through another trail of thought. After a few seconds I found myself staring at Percy again. I noted myself that this habit has to stop.  
Another five minutes passed and finally Thalia came out of the office. She seemed extremely satisfied with herself.  
"Well?" I asked impatiently.  
"Can't say much right now cause he sent me to wait in a classroom. He will probably do the same with all of you. I will say though, that I pity the fool who goes into his office right now." She said happily and with that she left the reception room.  
"Jason Grace, come in." We all heard Mr. D's voice from inside the office. Jason sighed, remembering what his sister just said, braced himself and went in. And that same process continued with the rest of us. After Jason, Leo entered and then Calypso, Grover, Will and Percy.  
Only I, Malcolm and Luke stayed in the reception room while Percy was still inside. It seemed like Percy was taking especially long, longer than Thalia.  
Doubts were eating at me as I wondered if Mr. D is questioning about what happened to his car and about our trip to the town. I wondered if Percy would just blame me and the whole thing but then two thoughts crossed my mind. The first one, it would be extremely unbelievable. I was one of the top students and he just joined the school mid year with a past of behavioral problems. Blaming me would be a stupid strategy. The second thought was that Percy didn't seem like the type who would sell out his friends to save his own skin, even if it meant he had to take one for the team.  
The door opened for the seventh time and Percy got out of the office with a perfect poker face, not giving away anything. He gave Luke a short look and left the reception room without even looking at me. Again, that made me feel even worse about how I behaved earlier today when I blew him. But that will have to wait for a better time, right now the three of us were looking at the office door waiting for Mr. D to call one of us in.  
"Malcolm Chase."  
Malcolm got up from his seat and entered the office, leaving me and Luke completely alone. Even Mr. D's secretary wasn't anywhere to be found. That is if she even existed.  
Luke and I sat for a minute or two in silence when he broke it. "Were you OK last night? We had no idea where you went to. Malcolm almost freaked out." He smiled.  
The thought of my older brother freaking out about me made me smile for a moment. Not because I liked making his life more stressful but because I knew I could always count on him. I could imagine him planning an expedition to search for me in the woods. "Yeah, sorry about that, we had a really hard time to find the way back to the school."  
"We?" He asked.  
"Oh yeah, uhm, Percy was with me. We found each other after the teachers raided us." I replied. I could have sworn Luke frowned for a second.  
"What do you think about him so far"  
"I think he is a cocky, insufferable little boy who didn't grow up." I sighed. While saying it I remembered how he tried to reach out to me when he noticed I was thinking about my mother, but then I remembered how he acted with Calypso and something boiled up inside of me. I knew it wasn't fair, I knew it wasn't logical but I ignored it as hard as I could.  
Luke smiled, he didn't even try to hide his satisfaction from my replay.  
"Hey Annie, I got a cool idea."  
"I like cool ideas."  
"Well then, I think you would like this one."  
My heart was pounding stronger with anticipation but I tried to keep my cool. "Shoot."  
"Would like to..." He started but exactly then the office door opened and Malcolm went through it. "You were saying?" I was eager to hear exactly what Luke wanted, so much so that I completely ignored Malcolm. I looked into Luke's blue eyes waiting for his replay but of course Mr. D had to get in the way. "Mr. Castellan. Don't keep me waiting." Mr. D said impatiently. Luke gave me an apologizing smile and entered the room.  
"What was that all about?" Malcolm asked me. I sighed and turned my eyes on him. "Nothing..."  
He raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell you later OK?"  
"No problem, I have to run anyways."  
"Same as everyone else?" I asked. everyone said the exact same thing as Thalia after they left Mr. D's office, they had to go to a classroom and wait there.  
"Yup." Malcolm answered. "I'll see you later." I nodded and he left the reception area.  
And then it was just me. Luke entered the office and Malcolm went away. That left me alone with my thoughts. To be honest I was thankful for the down time, I had a lot to process. In just a few days from a straight A student I skipped classes, went "partying" in the middle of the night on a school day in the woods, had a few beers and was an accomplice to what some might describe as grand theft auto. Now don't get me wrong, I do most of the things in the above every once in a while but not all in the same week and definitely not because of a guy.  
Jackson was a piece of art. I just had no idea how to process him. One moment he would be extremely cocky and flirty and the next he would act like a down to earth kind of guy. I assume he was just trying to be charming with me. But why me? couldn't he find some other girl to harass?  
The moment I said that I felt a sting in my stomach. Maybe he did find another girl. He was working his charm on Calypso earlier. That thought made me involuntarily frown.  
Fast forward a few minutes and Luke opened the office door.  
"I'll talk to you later OK? We'll continue where we stopped." He sent me one of his charming smiles and left, probably to the same classroom everyone was talking about.  
"Annabeth Chase. Come in." Mr. D repeated the smile for what seemed like the millionth time.  
My heart started to pound a little bit harder. I took a deep breath, determined to not let him see that I was stressed and walked into the office, closing the door behind me.  
"Sit down." He ordered me.  
I took the seat right in front of his desk and looked him straight in the eyes. It looked like he was exhausted, probably from hearing lies for the past few hours. We looked each other in the eyes for what seemed like eternity when he started to talk.  
"I will deny that I ever said it but you're a smart girl Annabeth. I don't know why you are in my office right now. Unlike Ms. Grace for example you never had any disciplinary issues."  
I didn't say anything. I wasn't gonna make this easier for him.  
He sighed, realizing exactly what I was doing. "Fine, have it your way." He held back a hiccup and started questioning me. "Where were you this morning?"  
"In my bed." So he didn't care if I was outside of the school's grounds last night. Did he notice we stole his car? It would be silly not to think so, not to mention he could just check the cameras feed that looked over the parking lot.  
"Why were you in your bed and not in class?"  
"I didn't feel well."  
"A student was asked to pass by the dorms and see if you were in the room. There was no answer."  
"I was probably asleep, didn't hear a thing." I replied.  
"And how are you feeling right now Ms. Chase?"  
"Much better, thank you Mr. D."  
"So you magically happen to feel better? It's only been a few hours since the morning."  
"Wouldn't call painkillers magic but they definitely do the trick."  
"Suit yourself Ms. Chase. You're quite lucky that a certain Latin teacher beat me in poker last night and called in his reward. A warning nontheless. I'll be watching you and that Jackson boy."  
I felt a stone stuck inside my throat. He knew and didn't do anything about it because Mr. Brunner? Remind me to thank him again.  
"Is that all sir?" I asked, eager to get out of his office.  
"One last thing. Go to room 2115. You're needed there. Besides that, that will be all. Now get out of my office, I had enough of you lying teens for the day."  
I didn't wait for him to tell me twice, as soon as I got my permission to leave I bolted out of there.  
My heart was pounding more than I'm willing to admit. Mr. D saw through all of my lies and if that was the case he probably didn't believe anything the rest told him yet he didn't do anything about it. He barely gave me a warning. He said he did it because of Mr. Brunner. What kind of a game they are playing? I headed towards the classroom he instructed me to be in, hoping that my friends will have more answers.

After a few minutes I reached room 2115. As I came closer to it I heard voices coming from inside.  
"...Been hours since we were called in to the office. School day is about to over by now." I heard Will say from inside the classroom.  
"Wanna go back to Math smartypants?" I heard Thalia tease him.  
"Shut up Thalia, this is not helping." Jason said.  
I opened the door and entered the room. I saw everyone there, sitting on chairs, tables or just standing up. Even the Stole's and Piper were there.  
"Finally!" Thalia left Will and turned towards me. "We can start."  
"Start what?" I asked.  
"Our own investigation. We need to find out who ratted us and then we need to bury him." Thalia replied with death in her eyes.  
"Take a sit." Malcolm kicked a chair towards me. I sat down.  
"OK, unfortunately, someone in this room ratted us. Anyone want to come clean before..." said Jason. "Before this gets ugly?" Suggested Thalia.  
No one said anything. "It's possible that it wasn't one of us and that someone may have heard one of us speak about this and went to the teachers." Suggested Malcolm. It was a good point. I looked at the rest of the group and we all of the same thought. The Stoles. Everyone turned towards them.  
"Hey! What? Are you all stupid enough to think that we snitched you guys?" Travor said. "I'm offended." Said Connor.  
"Not snitched us but maybe you said the wrong thing to someone and he is the one that ratted us out?" Said Luke.  
"No way. We wouldn't risk an initiation that way. We kept it super quiet. We didn't even invite Katie, so don't look at us." What they were saying sounded legitimate so we moved on. Two cleared of suspicion.  
"Look, I don't want to be a dick, but I'm just gonna say what everyone wants to." Luke was looking towards Percy.  
Percy in his turn, raised an eyebrow. "You really think I was the one who did it?"  
"You're the new guy, no one really knows you. It's nothing personal." Luke said.  
"Well then, you'd have to take my word for it. I would never rat out any of my friends."  
"And are we all your friends?" I asked. "This is what? Your fourth day here?"  
Percy clenched his jaw, and glared at me. He was clearly not satisfied with my lack of trust. To be completely honest even I thought it was a bitchy move on my part doing that after the few hours we spent together but it was the logical thing to do. We couldn't leave room for doubt and he was a prime suspect.  
"I thought so." He said, clearly talking about me. Everyone else just looked from side to side, as if they were watching a ping pong match between us. "But maybe I was wrong. Was I?"  
"Maybe you're impulsive and you just wanted to fuck around with us. Maybe that entire night worked out exactly how you wanted." I replied, feeling my face heating up.  
"Oh is that so?" He said through gritted teeth. "That was my plan all along? To get you in trouble so I could what? Tell me **Annie** , what was it that I achieved from that?" He said angrily, stressing my nickname he knew I didn't like when he used it.  
"You get here, cause trouble, you annoy everyone and then you back stab the guys who welcomed you? Seems kinda low, even for someone like you **Jackson**."  
"Someone like me? What does that even mean?" He asked and seemed like he was willing to choke me on the spot.  
"OK, OK guys! calm down." Calypso stepped in the middle. "This is not helping. Just... Take it easy."  
"Step aside Calypso, this is non of your business." I said, taking out some of my anger at her.  
"Hey, hey. I like a good pussycat fight just like the next guy but you need to calm down." Leo stepped to Calypso's aid while trying to be funny and break the tension. He failed, but I let it go anyways. I didn't even notice that I got up in the heat of the argument and sat down again. Malcolm rested his arm on my tense shoulder.  
"Moving on." Luke said.  
"There's nothing else to say. This is not going anywhere. It's useless." I said, shook Malcolm's arm off of me and left the classroom.  
I heard steps following me so I turned around, ready to punch whoever it was that thought following me was a good idea right now.  
It was Luke.  
I sighed. He gave me a small smile. I melted from the inside.  
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We'll find whoever did it and to be honest, it's not that big of deal. Mr. D didn't seem too interested in what we had to say. They're just gonna let it slide." He tried to reassure me.  
"I don't think so. There's more to it, I just can't put my finger on it right now. I need some time to think about it." I said, determined to find out what was going on. Why would Mr. D tell us all to go into that classroom if nothing happened? No member of the school's staff showed up, even after hours.  
Was it another kind of tactic? To see if we turn on each other? It kind of worked, except we got nowhere near the answer we were looking for and why would Mr. D want that to happen? Was this a game? He could've just punish us all and be done with it. So far he just let everyone off the hook for no apparent reason other than his gambling addiction. Hardly convincing,  
Then I remembered that Luke was about to say something to me before he was called into the office.  
"About earlier... You were about to say something." I reminded him.  
"Right, I was just thinking, would like you hang out sometime... Just you and me?" He gave me one of his charming smiles.  
"Luke Castellan. Are you asking me on a date?" Suddenly all of my anger subsided and all I cared about was right in front of me.  
"Why yes, Ms. Chase. Would you be so kind to accept the offer?"  
Then Percy jumped into my consciousness. I imagined him and Calypso talking again, what happened in the classroom, what happened between us and how Calypso jumped to his defense and I gave Luke my answer.  
"Yes. I would." I smiled. I've been waiting for the past few months, since the school year started for this to happen. Luke picked quite the timing.  
"Perfect, then I'll talk to you later. Gotta run for practice."  
"Sure thing." I said and watched him rush outside.  
As much as I wanted the day to end right there and then I still needed to handle the aftermath of what happened earlier. Calypso was my friend after all and we shared a room but more importantly the entire mystery was disturbing me.  
I texted Malcolm, Thalia and Jason to meet me on the benches of the football field. I'll handle Calypso later on.

Ten minutes later the four of us were sitting there watching the football team practice. Luke was there as well.  
"Damn Annie, you went berserk on Jackson." Thalia said.  
"It was kind of scary." Jason admitted.  
"Whatever, it's not important right now. What do you think about the whole thing?" I asked the three of them.  
"Well, we all agreed it can't be the Stoles. And personally, I don't think it's Percy." Malcolm joined in the conversation.  
"I agree, I don't think it was Percy as well." Jason said.  
I sighed, accepting that I was probably wrong but it didn't matter. I still couldn't stand the guy. Can't believe we hung out for a couple of hours as if we were a couple, having breakfast, walking in the park...  
"So where does that put us?" Thalia asked.  
"Back at the beginning." Jason replied.  
"Look, I don't know what happened when you were with Mr. D but when I talked to him it seemed like he didn't really care about what we did. He just let me off the hook cause he lost a game poker with Mr. Brunner." I said.  
"I don't know, when he talked to me it got heated quite fast." Thalia said.  
"Yeah, but that's you being you." I chuckled.  
"I don't know Annie, it seemed like he was pretty into it when he questioned me as well." Malcolm agreed with Thalia.  
"Same." Jason said.  
I paused for a moment, running scenarios in my head. What changed?  
"Then why me?" I asked. "It makes no sense."  
"I don't know either but I have to agree with you. It definitely looks like there's something under the surface, something that we are missing."  
"Maybe we are just blowing this out of proportion. Mr. D questioned a lot of people today, maybe by the time he got to Annabeth he was tired of hearing the same stuff." Thalia said.  
"Occam's razor ah?" I said.  
"Excuse me Ms. Chase, but not all of us listen in English class." Thalia replied.  
"We didn't learn it in English class but what it means is that the most simple solution is the most probable." Malcolm explained.  
"Whatever that means, yes, I agree with Pro Shield Gillette."  
The three of us sighed looking at Thalia.  
"Come on, that was witty." Thalia cried.  
But my mind already drifted to what she said. It made sense but I couldn't shake out the feeling that was something was happening here right beneath out noses, without us noticing.

 **That is the end of chapter 7, an extra long one. I tried to take it to what I think is a more interesting direction with a bigger mystery rather than random stuff happening so I hope you like it, please tell me what you think about the episode! Reviews are extremely appreciated!  
As you can see I'm trying to be way more consistent with the updates so yay me. Hopefully I'll keep it up for as long as I can.  
Thanks for reading,  
Love you babies,  
N.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey. I'm bringing you guys what I consider one of my better written chapters. I felt like I tied things together in a fairly believable way. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter! Some more information on upload schedule in the end.**

Rain was pounding on the window.

"I'm off to the play-room, join me Annie?" Thalia gave me puppy eyes.  
"Not in the mood right now Thals."  
"And that's exactly why you should come. Jason will be there, Luke too... It will be good to get your mind off of that stupid boy."  
"Maybe later." I simply replied.  
Thalia noticed that I didn't even correct her when she called me Annie and decided it would be best to give me some time alone and left.

The weather was matching my mood perfectly. How cliché...  
Dark clouds circled up above, sending lightnings and rain down on our dorm's windows. The rain started to pound stronger and stronger while I just sat on my chair and stared into the sky.  
I was alone in the room. Thalia just went out. And Calypso... well, she apparently went out on a date with Jackson. Did it bother me? Not. One. Bit. Stupid raven haired boy. The worst part was that Calypso didn't even bother to tell me or give me a heads up.  
I honestly tried to understand why it bothered me so much. Whatever happened between us that day in the town clearly faded away with our little confrontation in the class room after Mr. D summoned us to his office, when I accused him of selling us out to the teachers. Not that it was that big of deal, after all, nothing really happened, no one got punished and Mr. D just dropped it and let everyone off the hook. But no, of course I had to screw things up with Jackson. Now I had no other choice then hate him. Did he have to ask Calypso out? I probably should've apologized to him earlier but that would mean having to admit I was wrong and he was right. That was unacceptable. Knowing him he would probably let it get to his head and wouldn't forget about it for the rest of the year.  
Either way, I decided I should use the time alone to think things through once again. My "date" with Luke will only be tomorrow so I had a few hours of thinking before lights out.  
I tried to make sense of whatever was happening but then again, maybe I was just over thinking the whole thing? Could it be possible that Mr. D decided it was just not worth chasing a bunch of teens for the truth so he gave up? It does seem a lot like him. And Mr. Brunner was just on the student's side as usual? It would make a lot of sense.  
Before I could contradict myself once again for the sake of the argument someone knocked on the door. I sighed. "Thalia, I told you, I'm not leaving this room!"  
"So how about I come in?"  
My eyes widened a bit and I rushed to the door, opened it and saw a tall blonde boy standing in front of me. "Luke! What... What are you doing here?" I asked and gave him a puzzled look.  
"Well, I was hanging out with Jason in the play-room when Thalia joined, long story short, I came looking for you. He said and gave me a hug. I blushed under his embrace when he asked. "Is everything cool with you? Thalia said you weren't in the best of moods." He gave me a heart melting smile. "I'm fine, just... a little bit under the weather. I'm much better now." I smiled. He nodded. "How about, instead of waiting for tomorrow, we'll have our own date right now, right here?"  
"That... sounds perfect Luke."  
My heart was beating like crazy thinking how lucky I am to have Luke with me right now, instead of wasting the evening on thinking about imaginary things that might be or might not be true I could just sit with Luke and forget about that Jackson boy.  
"How about I'll make you some soup? The weather definitely requires it." He suggested.  
"You? Cooking? Don't make laugh Luke, the last time you tried to cook something it ended terribly with a half burnt kitchen if I recall correctly. I laughed.  
"Fine, I didn't mean that I would actually cook the soup myself but I could boil some water and make you one of those prepared soup powders.

"Sounds good enough for me." I said. Luke went to the small kitchen in the room that only had a microwave, a sink and a kettle. He filled the kettle with water and started boiling them. "I'll be right back, OK? Just gotta go and grab the powdered soup from my room." He smiled and went out the door.  
I sighed and looked outside the window. Rain was still pounding on the window and it didn't look like it had any intention to stop anytime soon. I always liked Luke. I had a crush on him since the moment we met, just a few months ago but the rational part of my brain said that I accepted Luke's offer mostly because of what happened with Percy. Why did he have to be so annoying? Couldn't he just act... Normal? I decided that before Luke comes back I'll try to make it look like I put some sort of effort into how I look so I jumped into the bathroom, cleaned my face and changed a shirt. I even placed a gentle hair pin in my golden curls, making my hair not as messy as before. I thought about putting a ribbon in it but quickly dismissed the thought. Eew, ribbons. Maybe I need to spend less time with Piper. Before I could ponder any further about whether or not I should limit my time with Piper a knock on the door echoed through the room, signaling Luke was back.  
"Well, I got mushroom or broccoli soup. I'm afraid the selection isn't quite impressive." He offered me the two choices. I twisted my nose at the sound of broccoli. "I'm not the biggest fan of broccoli after my mom forced me to eat every day for my entire childhood, so I think I'll go with the mushroom soup."  
"Excellent choice!" Luke laughed. He turned to the kitchen and started to look through the few drawers there. "You don't happen to have deep plates do you?" He frowned. "Hmmm, a couple of mugs would do the trick just fine." He finally said and settled for two coffee mugs. The water were already boiled so all he had to do what open the powdered soup into the cups and pour the hot water onto them. He handed me my cup with my soup of choice and a little spoon. "Mix it well so there won't be any powdered "mud" left in the bottom." He said. "Thanks Luke, this is great."  
He didn't say anything and just gave me a smile.  
We sat together on two separate chairs since there weren't any furniture in the room besides three wooden chairs, half facing each other, half facing the window.  
We sat in silence for a few moments. "You feeling better?" Luke asked. "Ummm... yeah, thanks. For all of this." I gave him a weak smile. "Sure thing, Annie."

-

When Luke left it was long after sunset, although that doesn't mean that much considering the sun sets quite early with winter approaching. I was quite tired by the time he was out and I was still sitting in my chair. We sat and drank our soup, mostly enjoying each other's company, talking from time to time and looking into the storm that engulfed the school's grounds.  
I yawned. I definitely needed sleep. Thalia already got back, gave me a cheeky smile, knowing that Luke was here and was now in the shower, getting ready to call it a day.  
I decided I didn't want to be in the room when Calypso returns and decided to take a walk through the school for a while, waiting for Calypso to return and head to bed. I'll deal with that tomorrow morning. I decided to leave my phone in the dorms. Didn't feel like answering phone calls from Thalia or Calypso. I needed some peace and quiet.  
It was fairly late, almost time for lights out meaning that teachers would soon roam the corridors looking for stray students who decided to wonder off in the middle of the night, AKA me.

Wondering aimlessly through the corridors was most definitely not the best of ideas, since I had to wait behind a corner and jump into the boys WC at least twice to avoid a teacher. Considering the fact that I just avoided punishment from two very stupid actions, getting drunk in the woods and stealing the principle's car, getting caught again was not an option.  
The hallways were poorly lit so I was walking in almost complete darkness, mostly relaying on sound rather than sight, to guide me through the schools. At times I was so absorbed in thought that I almost didn't notice a teacher was in my way. As expected, it was raining outside and the soft pitter patter of the rain on the windows echoed through the school, giving the school an eerie vibe at night. Nevertheless, I continued on my journey through the halls, walking aimlessly until I noticed I reached the staff's offices, the main one was Mr. D's. Light was shinning through the mat glass on the door, lighting the reception room. All of the doors were unlocked and wide open making me realize one of two things. Either that whoever came by the office didn't intend to stay long or that it was a rushed decision. I decided to play detective and sneak as close as I could to the office door without being detected. This was my chance to prove to myself that there was something going on in the school. That is of course if I didn't just eavesdrop to teachers talking about normal, boring... teacher stuff.  
I crept closer and closer, making sure I was making no sound in fear of getting caught until I was right in front of the office door.  
"... Due respect sir, I disagree. She is a smart kid, if anyone can get us out of this pit, it's her."  
"To hell with your respect. I still don't (burp) see why we couldn't just expel him right away. Would make things so much easier." The other man said, clearly being Mr. D.  
"Well, that would just leave us at a worse spot than we are now, I'm afraid. This whole thing started because of this kind of conduct, from out part." The first man said, recognizing him as Mr. Brunner. "Trust the girl, she can do it. If not... I'll reconsider your proposal and... expel the... boy."  
"I give her a week, this is already becoming too much of a nuisance." Mr. D replied.  
"Give her until the end of December, at least until Christmas break."  
"Fine. One last game of cards?" Mr. D asked Mr. Brunner. "I'm afraid not, I'd rather head to bed, it's getting awfully late." I heard a chair being dragged on the wooden floor and steps getting closer and closer to the door I was eavesdropping on. My heart began to pound as I frantically searched the room for a place to hide before Mr. Brunner will open the door on me. I'm ashamed to admit that I just froze in place. I had no idea where to go, what to do. The sound of a wheel chair being wheeled on the wooden floor got louder, signaling that Mr. Brunner was just about to leave the room and see me. I thought that he might not see me if I just pretended to be one of the plants in the waiting room but I decided against it as it wasn't dark enough for that.  
"Pssst! Over here! Now!" Someone half whispered, half shouted. I turned around and saw a pair of glittering eyes in the dark, watching me, signaling me to come over. In three quiet steps I crossed the reception room and made it to the counter, where Mr. D's secretary sits. I completely forgot that it even existed. It was the perfect hiding spot, Mr. Brunner had no reason to even look at that direction. I mentally scolded myself for not thinking about it myself. I jumped over the counter and in a surprisingly silent thud landed behind it, ducking next to the pair of eyes that saved me. I was too focused in trying to figure out whether or not I got caught that I didn't pay much attention to the eyes that were next to me. I almost held my breath, trying to be as quiet as I could so I would be able to hear every movement Mr. Brunner made, just in case he was heading towards us.  
I heard a pause in his movement, assuming he stopped and then he sighed. "Oh well. My nerves must be on edge." He mumbled to himself, closed Mr. D's office door and made his way out of the reception room. The squeaks from his wheelchair slowly got weaker and weaker until I could safely assume he was already on the half way point to his bed. I finally let out a sigh of relief.  
"Shhh! Mr. D is still in the office!" The voice once again half whispered, half shouted at me. I looked sideways straight into the glistening pair of eyes in the dark. Green eyes.  
Great.  
I sighed again, this time making an effort to be as quiet as I could and looked away.  
A few moments of silence passed. "What are you even doing here?" He whispered. "I could ask the same." I retorted. "Be my guest."  
I raised an eyebrow, then I realized that he probably didn't see it because of the dark. "Well?"  
"I was making my way back to the dorms when I heard the talk, curiosity got the best of me."  
"Is that why you got expelled from all of your past schools?"  
"Oh shut up."  
A few more moments of silence past between us.  
"And you?" He asked me.  
"I... needed a walk and came across this conversation. Same as you actually."  
We sat there in the darkness, behind the receptionist's desk, not really knowing what to say to each other. "Do you think we are in the clear? Can we just get out of here already?" I asked, unsure if we should risk detection and make a run for it or wait for Mr. D to leave his office.  
"Maybe we should stick around for a little longer. Just in case."  
I nodded, not really knowing if he saw me or not but since I didn't say anything or made any movement he didn't say anything as well. We sat there, under the desk for a few extra minutes, waiting to hear if Mr. D made any sounds that might indicate that he was planning to finally leave his office so we could leave as well. After what seemed like forever we heard him sigh, he flicked the light switch off and closed the door to his office, locking the door. At that moment a scary realization came to my mind. He is going to lock us in the reception room when he leaves.  
I glanced over at Percy trying to signal him that we need to leave right away, before Mr. D gets to the door but of course the boy was too busy looking through the drawers of the receptionist. Thank God he didn't make any noise snooping through her pens and pencils.  
I poked him with my finger, as if he was some dirty laundry I didn't want to deal with to get his attention. "What?" he turned and faced me. "We need to get out of here, now!" I whispered, trying to be a quiet as possible since Mr. D was just a few paces away from us, messing around with the key. Perhaps he was too drunk to get his key out of the door. "He is gonna lock us in!" I almost shouted. "Oh." was his only response.  
But it was too late. Mr. D got his key out of the door and was making his way towards the entrance to the reception room. He passed the desk and us hiding beneath it without noticing a thing and went out of the door. For a second I hoped that maybe he will forget to lock the door but I heard it shut and the lock was set in place.  
I waited a few seconds and then opened my mouth. "My God Jackson, you are slow."  
He didn't say a thing. He got up and walked around the room. "Now we are stuck. There's no way we won't get caught if we pass the night here." I started again. But for some reason he didn't say a word. He walked around the room, looking at the windows, as if considering the option of jumping three stories down into the wet grass. "Are you even listening to me?" I asked, this time expecting a reaction from him. "Unfortunately."  
"Excuse me?" Great. One word from him and I was already ready to fight him.  
"Will you shut up? I'm trying to get us out of here." Silence lingered for a few seconds because I decided that maybe he had a point. I wasn't really helping right now.  
"Maybe through the vents..." He mumbled to himself, his back was turned towards me.

I paused for a moment to think. It was just the two of us in the room, it was probably the best opportunity I would get any time soon. So I swallowed my pride.  
"I'm sorry..." I said quietly. "Ah?" He turned around and faced me. "Whatever, just help me."  
I sighed. "I mean I'm sorry about everything. Not just now. I'm... sorry about what happened the other day... In the class room..." I continued in a weak voice. Percy gave me a weird look, as if I just did the exact opposite of what he thought I was gonna do. But then he smiled.  
"Look Annie, don't go soft on me, we have to get out of here. I don't feel like getting expelled from this school as well." I smiled as well. "What did I tell you about calling me Annie?" I asked the rhetorical question and got to the job at hand. 

"Don't you have your phone on you? Maybe we could call the rescue party to bust us out of here from the outside." Percy asked me. "No, I left it in the dorms. I take it you don't have it on you as well?" I asked in turn. "No, I... I kinda forgot it in my room."

After about twenty minutes we both sat on the chairs in the reception room completely out of ideas.  
The door was locked, The vents were screwed in tight so we couldn't open them without leaving a permanent mark and even if we could open them I don't think even I could fit in them. The windows were not an option since we were three stories high and for some odd reason the receptionist didn't have the keys to the room in any of the drawers and that left us with zero options. Or so I thought.  
"Fuck... I actually didn't want to get expelled from this school as well. My mother is gonna kill me this time. Maybe she'll toss me into the street." he held his head in his hands but I could see a small smile on his face, as if he was finding the situation somewhat funny.  
"We still have a lot of time before someone gets here. It's barely past midnight." I said but sighed. I would have loved to find a way out as soon as possible or Thalia and Calypso would think I got kidnapped or some other terror happened to me. They wouldn't be wrong, I was stuck in a room with Percy Jackson. I chuckled at the thought. Would I receive psychological treatment after this trauma? Before noticing I was laughing out loud, breaking the silence that existed in the middle of the night in the school.  
"Have you gone completely mad?" Percy gave me a weird look but still had his small smile on his lips. At that point I just couldn't stop laughing. I didn't even know what was so funny about the situation. Perhaps it was being stuck in the principle's office in the middle of the night with a boy that I couldn't stand until just a few hours ago or maybe it was that I somehow found it enjoyable.  
Well, maybe not enjoyable but... sufferable?  
"OK, you're starting to freak me out." I tried to snuff my laughter but my cheeks were hurting and my stomach aching. "Is this the part of the horror movie where you suddenly stop laughing, look up slowly and kill me?" He asked smiling. I liked the idea. I gathered all of my strength and will power and managed to stop laughing in an instant. My head was tilted towards the floor and my hair covered my face. "Uhhh... Annabeth? This is not funny anymore."  
I slowly raised my head so our eyes would meet, but as soon as I straightened my head I couldn't see him anywhere. All I saw was the empty chair he was sitting on just a few moments ago. At that point my heart started to pound slightly faster, trying to match the beat of the rain on the windows.

Where did he go?  
Lightning cracked the sky and thunder soon followed.  
"Don't tell me you're scared!"  
I could have swear I jumped twenty feet in the air. "Percy! Never do this again!" I pouted.  
"Don't pout at me. Or at all. You're cuter when you don't do it." He said in a nonchalant manner and walked off to the windows. I sighed. Nothing made sense when I was around Percy.  
"Seriously though, breaking and entering is a new one for me. I usually got expelled for fights or being rude to teachers." Percy said.  
"Being rude to teachers got you expelled?" I asked, trying to imagine how rude can someone be to get expelled because of it.  
"Well, maybe rude is an understatement." He laughed. As he laughed something clicked in my brain. Breaking and entering...  
"Percy! I know what we need to do!" He turned around from the window and looked at me, expecting an explanation. But I was already beyond that part. I rushed through the reception room towards the door. Not the door leading outside, but the door leading further inside. The door to Mr. D's office. "The exit isn't that way..." Percy called from behind.  
"I'm not looking for the exit." I said when he caught up to me. He paused for a second and said, "I'm not sure that looking for Mr. D's liqueur cabin is the best idea. I mean, I get it, if we will be expelled might as well right? But still..."  
I just gave him a weird look. "I'm not looking for his alcohol. I was thinking that maybe... in order to get out we have to break in even further." I said, barely bothering to explain myself.  
"Yeah... that makes even less sense than trying to get drunk."  
"Oh shut up for a second and help me open this door." I said, pointing to Mr. D's office door.  
"Huh." He looked at the door for a few moments and turned back to face me. Our faces were inches away. He looked straight into my eyes but then his eyes went higher. He looked at my hair. I thought it was a weird time to admire my hair but who am I to judge. "Uhm, I'm gonna need that hair pin." He asked quietly, not really knowing how to handle the situation. Maybe he thought I would punch him. "Just a second." I took a step backwards and pulled out the pin that was still in my hair. Luckily I didn't get it out after Luke left. Since the pin I took held my hair in the front, tucked to the side it fell on my face, suddenly loose.  
Percy glanced at me for a second, not really knowing what to say but quickly regained his usual insufferable composure. "You look better that way." And he turned back towards the office door, starting to lock pick it.  
"Jackson, you keep saying that sort of stuff and I just might get the wrong impression."  
"And that would be?" He retorted. "That you might not actually hate me as much as you're trying to make it look like it." He laughed.  
At that point it was already one in the morning but all of my fatigue was gone when the adrenaline pumped through my veins. I had a plan, and when I have a plan... Well, I expected much from this one.

"One more second... Done!" Percy yelled as the door slid open. "Keep it down! Getting caught is not part of my plan."  
Percy paused for a moment and looked at the hair pin. "You know I could just lock pick of the reception room door right?"  
"True, but I have a better idea."  
"Do you have a flashlight?" I asked him. "Yeah, sure, I forgot my phone but I keep my trusty flashlight on me at all times!" He faked a smile. It was his turn to be sarcastic. "Fine, fine. Help me find the light."  
"Are you sure turning on the light in the office in the middle of the night is the best idea?" Percy asked me. I lingered for a moment in place. "Good point." I mumbled. God, I hated it when he was right.  
"What are we looking for exactly?" Percy asked. I still haven't told him what my plan involved.  
There were two parts to my plan. The easy part was looking for a spare key to the reception door so we could get out of here as soon as possible. The other part... it relied more on luck.  
I explained the first part to Percy. "And the second part?" He asked.  
"Look, you haven't been in here for very long, but did you get the feeling that something weird is happening here?" He gave me a weird look. "In case you were wondering, not every day people steal the principle's car and get away with it, or get drunk in the woods and don't get punished, and the talk we just heard? Mr. D and Mr. Brunner said something about expelling someone from the school if their plan doesn't work. You heard it too right? This is not normal, I can assure you.""  
He started to nod slowly. "They were also talking about some girl... A girl they are trusting to... Save them." He looked straight at me. "Hold on... And you think it's me?" My mind started to race a thousand miles per hour, calculating all sort of things, to most of them I wasn't even aware of.  
"Well, don't let this go to your head but... They said she was a smart kid and well, you kind of fit the bill." He gave me an awkward smile, as if he just told me I had to do something really uncomfortable.  
I shook those thoughts from my head. We were way past midnight by now and I wanted to get what we were after and get out. "It's not important right now. We need to look for a set of keys that will open those doors and maybe, just maybe, find something that will tell us more about what is going on in this school. We'll talk about this tomorrow."

And so we started to look through Mr. D's drawers and cabins, trying to find the keys and something that might help us make better sense of the situation.  
Obviously, the first place I went to was Mr. D's desk. That's when my heart froze.  
"Percy, come look at this." I called, standing motionless in front of the desk. "What is it? Did you find the keys?" He asked as he slowly walked towards me. "I think I know who they are going to expel." I turned and handed him a certain student's files. He looked at it and sighed. "Fuck. I really like that guy."

-

It's been a few minutes and both Percy and I were still in Mr. D's office. At first it was hard to notice because of the absence of light but the office was a giant mess. Student files and school folders were sitting on top of each other in stacks, on the desk and on the floor. Soda cans were thrown all around the room and I noticed two empty bottles, rolling on the floor that looked like red wine.  
It seemed like Mr. D hadn't dropped the subject like I thought he did.

"I hate to say it but... It kind of makes sense."  
Percy looked up, waiting for me to continue. "If they are looking for someone to blame he is the perfect one. A fire in the woods that could've spread and done immense damage. His past makes it extremely easy to pin it on him. Percy sighed. "We need to tell him."  
"Well, that requires us to get out of here first. Did you find the keys? I asked, eager to get out of the messy office. "I found a few sets of keys, just gotta try 'em out."  
"Good, let's get out of here." Percy grabbed the few key chains he found in one of the drawers and we both headed towards the reception room door.  
The second set of keys got the job done and opened the reception door, sending us free.

Percy ran back and returned the keys to where he found them and rushed back to where I was waiting for him, outside the reception room, in the hallway.  
"I guess we'll just leave the door open?" He asked me. "I think it's better than stealing the keys. We'll have to sneak in and get them back at some point. It's safer to let him think he just forgot to lock the door." Percy nodded. "Let's hope the few drinks he had will make it more believable."  
We were both standing in the dark hallways, only lit by the moonlight from the outside. Since we were quite far from any big cities, light pollution wasn't that big of a deal. The moon shined bright and the stars were mesmerizing, even through the windows.  
"So... What now?" Percy broke the silence. Exactly when the words came out of his mouth I realized how tired I was. All I wanted was to lay my head on my pillow and close my eyes, letting dreams take me away. I gave him a small, tired smile. "Now it's time to head back to the dorms and get in bed." Right as I finished the sentence I understood how it sounded like. Percy's eyes twinkled mischievously but he didn't comment.  
"I think we make a pretty good team." He said as we made our ways to the dorms.  
I thought about it for a moment. Despite the zigzags in our awkward relationship I felt, especially after tonight, that we handled ourselves pretty well. He might have a point.  
"We'll talk about what we found out tonight tomorrow morning and think about what we should do. Come sit with us in the cafeteria, cool?" I said, hoping that I won't regret the invitation.  
"Cool." Percy replied and left me on the stairs leading to the third floor of the dorms building while he made his way through the second floor, advancing towards his room that was placed right beneath my own. 

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tell me what you think in the reviews!  
Now, it might be summer time and there is no school but I'm working in a warehouse for most of the week and workout when I'm off which means it leaves me extremely tired when I have some available time. My job is for the most part pretty physical so I spend most of my time home resting and sleeping. That being said, I hope I will be able to write at least twice a week, on my off days and maybe bring an update every two weeks or so.  
I really hope that I will be able to finish this story in 12 months since it will be very hard for me to update after that. Keep in mind that I do want to create two more season for this story, following the same characters in the same setting and place but in their Junior and Senior year. To do that I will definitely have to be consistent with my updates throughout the next 12 months.  
Anyhow, that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please do leave a review telling me what you think!**

 **Love you all,**

 **N.**


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